


Kaleidoscope

by chuuya



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Drabble Collection, First Love, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-10-06
Updated: 2014-11-04
Packaged: 2018-02-20 05:01:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 30
Words: 29,907
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2415881
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/chuuya/pseuds/chuuya
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>30 Days Drabble Challenge with YamaTsukki - not a real fic but the drabbles belong to one another as the basic story throughout the challenge is the development of their relationship.</p><p>title used to be <i>Started from the Bottom, Now we're eating the Bottom</i></p>
            </blockquote>





	1. beginning

**Author's Note:**

> I will change the title to something better one day. Kudos to my friend for suggesting it. Makes me feel compelled to put actual ass eating in here though.
> 
> january 6th, 2017: I FINALLY CHANGED THE TITLE praise the lord but also me

“Are you really sure about this?” Tsukishima looked down at him. He was sitting on his bed and fumbling around with his glasses. Yamaguchi gave him a reassuring smile from the floor.

“It’s ok, really. It’s just for one night.”

“Well if you say so..” The boy shrugged and set his glasses on the night stand. “You can still have the couch in the living room, just saying.”

“But that destroys the purpose of a sleepover, Tsukki!” Yamaguchi retorted.

“I’m beginning to think we’re too old for this,” Tsukishima muttered. He laid back and reached for the switch of his bedside lamp. “Good luck down there.”

“You’re making it sound like I’m facing off with the monsters under your bed.”

The only monster, however, was the floor itself, Yamaguchi feared. Lying on the hard ground prove to be more uncomfortable than he had assumed, even though Tsukishima’s mother had given him two blankets to use as padding. Usually he had his own futon here, but since Tsukki’s brother had decided to come home for the weekend and brought a friend with him, that one futon was occupied.

He shifted around, in an attempt to find a comfortable position. It was like he was getting painfully aware of the bones in his body – which was strange, seeing that he had built up so many muscles due to their daily volleyball training.

Maybe it wasn’t enough yet.

With a sigh, Yamaguchi adjusted his pillow and closed his eyes. He was the kind of person who slept on his side, usually. Sleeping on his back seemed to be the only comfortable position right now.

 

* * *

 

The clock kept ticking in the dark of the room. Tsukishima’s breaths were deep and steady. He had turned over to his side only a few minutes after he had fallen asleep. Yamaguchi turned his head towards him and smiled involuntarily.

He didn’t know why, but looking at him like this calmed him a little. Even if he couldn’t see his face, just being in the same room felt soothing to Yamaguchi. Maybe that was the reason why he enjoyed staying over at his best friend’s place so much. Being with Tsukishima – his savior – made him feel at ease, like he didn’t have to be scared anymore.

Truth be told, ever since he had entered high school, he didn’t have the same difficulties with people as he used to have. Tsukishima was someone who loathed other people- being his friend was something Yamaguchi took pride in. It made him feel strong, and he loved how weird they seemed to others. After all, he wasn’t as pretty or talented as Tsukki, but they were still friends. He was one of the few people Tsukishima didn’t hate, despite the fact that he still treated Yamaguchi rather roughly.

“Yamaguchi.”

The annoyed tone of voice ripped him out of his thoughts.

“Y-yes? Tsukki? Weren’t you sleeping already?”

“I can’t sleep when you keep sighing like that.” The sheets rustled when Tsukishima shifted under his blanket. “If it’s that uncomfortable down there, you should have just said so.”

“Eh.. It’s.. not that bad..” He cleared his throat nervously and shifted his gaze to the ceiling. He hadn’t even realized that he had been sighing.

“Stop lying.” Tsukishima’s voice sounded so harsh that Yamaguchi flinched. He slowly turned his head to look at him again.

Tsukki was staring right at him, his eyes squinted lightly since he wasn’t wearing his glasses.

“Come here.” With that, he lifted the blanket slightly. Yamaguchi opened his mouth, but no sound came out.

“I’m not going to hold up this blanket forever. Either come now or stay down there. But shut up already.”

“I-I’m sorry.. I mean- I’m coming, Tsukki.” He scrambled to his feet and almost stumbled over his blanket when he made a step toward the bed. “Thank you, Tsukki!!”

“Shut up, Yamaguchi,” Tsukishima groaned. He closed his eyes and didn’t say anything anymore until Yamaguchi was tucked in beside him.

 

* * *

 

When Yamaguchi woke up, a sweet scent was the first thing he noticed. It smelled strange; definitely not bad. But.. _different._ It was tangy, like your typical men’s shampoo, but it had a sweet note to it. Something like.. strawberry.. His lips curled to a small smile. Tsukki loved strawberries.. Yamaguchi always gave him the big strawberry on top of his shortcake too. It was one of the rare occasions when Tsukishima’s eyes would glow and he’d smile in such an innocent and happy way that it made Yamaguchi’s chest hurt just from looking at him.

“Oi, Yamaguchi.. You’re awake, right?” he heard Tsukishima speak up.

He hummed and took in a deep breath. “A little. Tsukki.” Not waiting for a reply, he pressed a little closer to the warm body of his friend, and buried his nose in his soft, blond hair. The scent was really nice.. How come he hadn’t noticed it before? He inhaled it deeply, trying to burn it into his memory. He felt so content and relaxed right now. The bed was warm and soft and Tsukki smelled so god and he didn’t even care that the arm Tsukki’s head was resting on felt completely numb right now.

“You smell sooo good, Tsukki,” he muttered, dazed. Tsukishima’s body seemed to stiffen in front of him.

“You.. _you_..” Tsukishima tried to find the right word he wanted to use, inhaling sharply. The next moment, Yamaguchi felt his friend’s elbow digging into his rib cage.

He let go off Tsukishima’s waist (when had he wrapped his arm around him, exactly?) and rubbed his hand over his chest. The moment he did that, his friend wiggled away from him, cursing under his breath.

“That really hurt, you know..” He looked over to Tsukishima, who had wrapped his arms around his torse and shot him a glare over his shoulder. “What’s wrong, Tsukki?” His mind was still hazy from sleep, so it was hard to get a full grasp on the situation. Well, he might have had to sleep in the same bed as Tsukki and maybe he had gotten a little clingy – nothing wrong with that, right?

The way Tsukishima stared at him, however, made it seem like he had done the worst things imaginable.

“Why..” His voice trembled when he finally spoke up. Yamaguchi sat up and tried to use his arm for leverage, but it still felt numb and prickled painfully from having been asleep for so long.

“Why what?”

Tsukishima took a few deep breaths. His face had taken on the same shade as the strawberries he loved so much. Yamaguchi faintly wondered if he hated being hugged by him that badly.

Tsukishima growled. “It doesn’t make any sense.. Why am _**I**_ the small spoon?!”

“Ah..” Yamaguchi frowned. “Hm.. Maybe you’re more passive than you thought, Tsukki..!”

“ **Gross** ,” Tsukishima hissed. He crawled over to the edge of the bed, carefully avoiding any more body contact with his best friend. “Make sure you won’t do that again next time you sleep in my bed.”

“Ah..” Yamaguchi repeated himself. “I see.. Hey, does that mean I can sleep in your bed more often from now on?”

He could hear the sound of Tsukishima’s glasses falling to the floor behind himself. Then his friend rushed to the door. “Whatever,” he muttered under his breath, before he slammed the door shut behind him.

Only seconds later, Yamaguchi heard the shower getting turned on. He fell face forward into Tsukishima’s pillow, his eyes closed. Still sleepy, what he did only made sense to him very slowly. If he hadn’t known better, Tsukishima was.. embarrassed?

He sighed, before inhaling the scent of the pillow under him.

It smelled just like Tsukki…


	2. accusation

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one's loosely based on my headcanon that Tsukki whines and complains a lot when he's around Yamaguchi.

 

There were three of them.

Yamaguchi felt his hands starting to get sweaty when he stopped outside and saw them leaning against the fence. The moment he saw them, all three of them looked up and stared at him. It was as though they were shooting daggers with their eyes.

He vaguely knew them. They were first years, like he was, and they were in a different class than him. One of them was Hinata’s classmate even, if he remembered correctly.

Clearing his throat, he shoved his hands into the pockets of his pants. “Are.. are you the ones who sent me this letter?”

At this one he probably should have produced the letter out of his pocket, but.. he had left it in the classroom. _Way to go, Tadashi_ , he scolded himself.

The three girls glanced at each other for a moment, before they walked over to him. They stopped only a few meters in front of him, arms folded, glaring.

Yamaguchi wondered whether they were going to beat him up. They had even called him up to the roof like this – how clichéd.

“We want you to stay away from Tsukishima,” the first one spoke up. She had brown, wavy hair and eyes of the same color. The way she looked at him made it seem like she was a tiny, aggressive dog.

“Don’t get us wrong, we don’t hate you.. Surely, you have a nice personality and all that,” the second one said. She was wearing a black bob cut and glasses, which she adjusted to accentuate her statement. The sunlight reflected in the lenses for a second. It immediately reminded Yamaguchi of Ikari Gendou.

“We couldn’t care less about that, though. Compared to Tsukishima, you’re just.. not good enough. You’re dulling his sparkle, if you understand what I’m trying to say.” The third and last one was a tall, slender girl with long, black hair. Her straight bangs fell into her eyes and obscured the sight of her eyebrows, which made her seem completely expressionless. She had something of a traditional Japanese beauty about her. Yamaguchi wouldn’t have been surprised if she had pulled a sword out of nowhere and tried to slay him with it.

Too immersed in his observation of the three students in front of him, he didn’t notice that they were staring at him in expectation. He flinched when one of them cleared her throat loudly.

“Eh.. uhm.. I’m..” He rubbed the back of his head nervously and glanced around the floor. “Uhm.. What do you want from me?”

“Weren’t we clear?” The tall one was speaking again. She took a step forward. Even though she was smaller than him, the way she looked at him made it seem like she was staring him down – and it was working. “You’re just not good enough to be by his side!”

“Exactly,” the dog-girl agreed, nodding furiously, “He’s so pretty and smart and secretive… While you’re just.. not. I bet you’re pretty slow when it comes to studying, too! Just because you’ve got those freckles, you think you’re as striking as Tsukishima is, huh?”

Yamaguchi took a step back and held up his hands in front of his chest. “I never.. I mean..” Looking around helplessly, he squinted his eyes shut. “T-Tsukki and I have been friends since forever!!” The moment these words came over his lips, he slammed his hand over his mouth. “I-I mean.. We’ve been together for a while now.. We’re best friends, so..”

“You’re making it seem like you’re any special to him,” the glasses girl hissed. She put her hands on her hips and leaned forward. “As if! You’re just acting like some lovestruck girl who doesn’t want to accept that her crush might be happier with someone else!”

“Oh my god, I can totally see it.. He’s probably in love with Tsukishima.”

“Gross.. Even though I can understand feeling that way.” The other two girls giggled. Yamaguchi felt blood rushing to his cheeks.

“I’m.. I’m not..”

But the three of them weren’t even looking at him anymore, and talked about him like he wasn’t.. well, standing right in front of them.

He didn’t know how to describe that feeling that was welling up inside his stomach and rising to his chest. Anger, yes. But he was also embarrassed and ashamed. And even more anger, about not being taken seriously as Tsukki’s friend. He was used to being the deliverer of love letters and gifts for Tsukishima’s suitors. Most of the girls who tried to make a move on him at least respected Yamaguchi, if only because he was the only link between them and their crush.

“Yamaguchi.”

Perking up, he involuntarily held his breath at the sound of the voice behind him.

“What the hell are you doing? I’ve been waiting.”

Tsukishima’s shoes scratched over the ground under his feet. He stopped next to Yamaguchi.

“Pretty rude of you to promise me lunch and then wander off like this.”

“I-I’m sorry,” he stammered, breathlessly. He didn’t dare look at the girls in front of them.

“If you’re done here, let’s go.”

“Uhm— Tsukishima!” one of the girls spoke up.

Tsukishima paused in his motion of turning away, and glanced at her, raising an eyebrow. “What?”

She didn’t know what to say, apparently, because she simply stared at him, face red, her fingers fumbling with the ribbon around her neck.

Tsukishima let out an annoyed sighed. “Let’s go eat already, Yamaguchi.”

It took Yamaguchi a few moments, until he was collected enough to run after his best friend, who had already reached the stairs and was making his way back to their floor.

 

* * *

 

Once they had reached the bottom of the stairs, Tsukishima stopped. He adjusted his glasses – when he did it, it seemed less obnoxious, somehow. “Seriously.. Don’t get beaten up by a girl gang, Yamaguchi..”

Yamaguchi laughed nervously. “I’m sorry.. Guess you saved me again, huh?”

His friend hummed, not making clear whether he was agreeing or disagreeing with him.

“One day I’ll save you too, Tsukki,” Yamaguchi muttered.

Tsukishima made a disgruntled noise. “I don’t need anyone to save me.”

“Don’t destroy my dreams like that!!”

“It’s your _dream_ to _save_ me? _**Why?**_ ”

Yamaguchi shrugged and folded his arms. “I don’t know. Because you’re my best friend, I guess.”

“You’re such a weirdo..” Tsukishima shook his head and ran his fingers through his hair while they walked back to their classroom. “Lunch time is almost over and I still haven’t eaten yet. This is all your fault.”

“Sorry, Tsukki,” his friend chirped. He smiled at the back of Tsukishima’s head, the sight of his figure alone right in front of him already making his stomach feel weird.

_I like you a lot, Tsukki._

 

 


	3. heat

Dropping his pen on the table, Yamaguchi leaned back and grabbed the assignment sheet to use it as a fan. The little breeze it gave him wasn’t much, but it still felt godsent. From outside, he could hear the baseball team practicing, their shouts reaching the building even from this far away.

He groaned.

“It’s too hot for this..” he muttered, “Why do we have to do this today? They should let us do it over the weekend, right, Tsukki? At home, where there’s air con and cold drinks..”

“The dead line is today and it’s your fault we forgot about this assignment in the first place,” Tsukishima replied, his voice as cold and monotone as usual.

Yamaguchi flinched. “It wasn’t my fault.. You forgot about it, too!”

“You could have reminded me.”

“I was busy with other things.. We both were!”

Tsukishima looked up and gave him a rather expressionless look – the way he always did when he wanted Yamaguchi to say or do or admit something. This time, he wouldn’t budge.

“We were so caught up in practice the last few weeks, it’s only natural we forgot about it, you know?”

“But it’s me who got a pep talk,” Tsukishima muttered.

Yamaguchi sighed. “Well you are everyone’s favorite student.”

“They acted like I had fallen from grace and was about to drop out of the class.”

“They know this won’t happen anytime soon,” Yamaguchi retorted. He sighed and leaned in again. His forearms were so sweaty, they stuck to the papers lying on the table.

Tsukishima didn’t say anything for a while, with only the sound of his pen scratching on the paper as he wrote disturbing the silence. Aside from the two of them, the library was completely empty. Most students had gone home already, or were attending their clubs.

“Let’s just hurry up and finish this,” Tsukishima sighed eventually. He paused, looking at Yamaguchi for a split second, before turning his attention back to the book lying in front of him.

The assignment wasn’t all that hard, Yamaguchi had to admit to himself, when he picked up his pen again. It only consisted of a lot of research, reading through long and boring passages in books, and filling in historical dates and answering questions the teacher had handed out.

The heat was the problem. After he had realized that he had read the same three sentences over and over again, and they still didn’t make any sense to him, Yamaguchi let out a frustrated sigh. His brain felt mushy and his clothes were sticking to his skin in such a disgusting manner, he only wanted to rip them off and dive into the next pool.

He glanced at Tsukishima. Beads of sweat were glistening on his forehead. Strangely enough, they didn’t look gross on him. His best friend somehow always managed to look perfect, like any kind of trait that would make other people unattractive, was made only to underline how goodlooking he was.

He felt a twinge of some feeling he couldn’t quite describe in his chest. For a moment he feared it might be jealousy – but that was impossible. Seeing how often Tsukishima got bothered by girls who were crushing on him, Yamaguchi was rather glad that he didn’t have the same striking looks as his best friend had. Still- what was he feeling _exactly_ , when he looked at his best friend?

As though he had heard the question Yamaguchi had silently posed, Tsukishima looked up from what he was writing. His eyebrows furrowed when he met eyes with Yamaguchi.

“Are you hungry?”

Yamaguchi blinked. “What? Why?”

“You look hungry,” Tsukishima shrugged. He scribbled something on the paper in front of him. “Makes me feel like I’m a cupcake or something.”

“I’m sure you look delicious to some people,” Yamaguchi tried to crack a joke. His friend shot him a glare, before leaning over the book again.

“Whatever..”

Of course Tsukishima wouldn’t bother wasting time on acknowledging his compliments. He never took notice of his fans fawning over him, either. Still, for some reason, Yamaguchi had hoped he would at least deny what he had said.

Because it was true.

Tsukishima looked _so. good._ It was almost unfair. Just sitting here and staring at his face was enough to keep Yamaguchi occupied for what seemed like hours. That soft, curly hair, which smelled of strawberries (a scent he would remember for the rest of his life) – he wanted to touch it so badly. But Tsukishima would probably stare him to death with those golden brown eyes of his. Yamaguchi loved the way his best friend glanced over the rim of his glasses when he was especially annoyed by how stupid people acted. And only when he leaned in really close, he could see the long, blond lashes that adorned Tsukishima’s eyelids..

He could feel sweat trickle in his neck the longer he stared at Tsukishima. By now, Yamaguchi wasn’t sure anymore whether he was sweating because of the heat or because of.. He didn’t even want to finish that thought.

Swallowing hard, he grabbed his pencil harder and leaned over his book again. _Concentrate_ , he told himself, he had to concentrate. At least until they were finished with this stupid history assignment, even though the numbers and letters kept getting all jumbled up in front of his eyes the more aware he became that he was completely alone with Tsukishima. Every single breath, sigh, sound of his best friend rang loudly in his ears the longer he tried to get any work done.

“Ice cream,” Tsukishima said all of sudden.

Yamaguchi looked up.

“… When we’re done. Let’s get ice cream.” He paused for a moment, before he added, “My treat.”

Yamaguchi felt like his heart was going to leap straight out of his chest. “Thank you, Tsukki!”

Tsukishima groaned and looked away pointedly. “Just shut up and do your assignment now.”


	4. restless

The air coming out of the freezer was so cold, Yamaguchi wanted to lean over it for hours. Next to him, Tsukishima let out a long, exasperated sigh.

“Just decide already, Yamaguchi,” he groaned, folding his arms.

“But you’re the one making the decisions usually, Tsukki.”

“I’ll let you pick only today, and you still don’t want to accept that offer?”

“Fine. Then I’ll take strawberry,” Yamaguchi decided. Tsukishima squinted his eyes at him.

“Idiot,” he muttered. He reached into the freezer and pulled out one of the cherry flavored double popsicles. “You don’t even like strawberry.”

 

* * *

 

It had never even crossed his mind that Tsukishima might be aware of the things he liked. He knew that his best friend loved dinosaurs and enjoyed listening to music and that he couldn’t bite cold things because he had sensitive teeth, but.. Come to think of it, there was nothing remotely interesting about Yamaguchi. He had no remarkable traits or unique hobbies or anything of that sort. Even though Tsukki always claimed to be a boring person whenever girls fawned over him, compared to Yamaguchi, he truly was an incredibly exciting person to be with.

The door of the small convenience store slid shut behind them when they left the building. Next to a trash can, Tsukishima came to halt and started unwrapping their popsicle. It was of a bright red shade, probably artificially colored and flavored until perfection. Tsukishima held one of the wooden sticks between his index finger and thumb, and held it up towards Yamaguchi.

“Eh.. you want to do it that way?”

“It worked when we were kids, didn’t it?” Tsukishima shrugged and nodded towards the popscile. “Come on.”

With a sigh, Yamaguchi grabbed the other stick and pulled. The ice cream gave away easily. Only towards the end, the crack right between the two sticks stopped. Instead, Yamaguchi’s half broke off right under the tip, while Tsukishima’s half looked like an upside down L on a wooden stick.

He furrowed his eyebrows.

“Oh well,” Yamaguchi shrugged after a moment of silence. He smiled at his best friend and turned away, signalizing that he wanted to get going now. He could hear Tsukishima crumbling up the wrapper and throwing it into the trash can, before he followed Yamaguchi.

“Maybe next time it will go smoother,” Yamaguchi mumbled soothingly. He glanced at Tsukishima out of the corner of his eye. The boy was merely staring at the ice cream in his hand. “You should eat, you know how fast it melts.”

“Hmm..” he hummed. He turned his head to Yamaguchi. “You should bite off your share.”

Yamaguchi stopped and blinked at him. “But I already got mine…?”

“I meant this.” Tsukishima pointed a slender finger at the part that broke off of Yamguchi’s share and was still attached to Tsukishima’s half of the popsicle.

“Eh.. I don’t need it, really. Just eat it.”

“But it’s your favorite flavor,” Tsukishima demanded. “Just bite it off, Yamaguchi.”

Yamaguchi could feel how drops of his ice cream landed on his skin and ran over his hand, but he couldn’t look away from his best friend’s face. Unlike his usual annoyed face, his expression was different now – softer, somehow.

“You always say you hate having other people’s saliva on your stuff..” he muttered weakly.

“I don’t mind if it’s you. I wouldn’t share my water bottle with you if I had a problem with it.”

“Is that so?” Yamaguchi tilted his head to the side.

“Just bite it off already,” Tsukishima repeated more insistently. He brought the popsicle to Yamaguchi’s lips, only waiting for him to take his share.

Still trying to avoid slobbering all over his ice cream, Yamaguchi quickly bit off the small part at the tip. It felt refreshingly cool in his mouth – which was expected of ice cream, really. Hearing Tsukishima take in a sharp breath, he looked up.

“Hm? What is it, Tsukki?” he asked, his lips brushing against the cold popscile in front of him. Noticing it, he straightened up again. Tsukishima turned away and adjusted his glasses, while Yamaguchi licked the streams of red ice cream off his fingers.

“Today is a really hot day,” Yamaguchi muttered when he realized Tsukishima wasn’t going to tell him what was wrong. “I hope I can even manage to sleep tonight.”

“I heard drinking hot tea might help, because your body cools down to adjust to the heat.”

“My grandmother does that, actually.” He grinned at Tsukishima. “Remember when we stayed at my grandparents’ house during summer holidays?”

He wasn’t sure whether his eyes were deceiving him, but he was fairly sure that he saw the corner of Tsukishima’s mouth twitch for a second there. “I got a horrible sunburn on my first day,” Tsukishima replied, “You said you wanted to fry potatoes on my back.”

“Too bad we never did that.”

“I would have killed you.” To his surprise, Tsukishima laughed – actually laughed. It was a short, breathless laugh, but it still made Yamaguchi’s cheeks heat up.

When Tsukishima noticed that he was staring at him, he raised an eyebrow. “What? You’re looking at me like—”

“Like you’re a cupcake?” Yamaguchi cut in.

Tsukishima rolled his eyes. “I was about to say that you’re looking at me like these annoying girls that keep giving me love letters.”

The sweetness of the cherry ice cream was replaced by a sudden bitter taste, and Yamaguchi’s heart started to race. He swallowed thickly, nodding, more to himself than to Tsukishima’s words.

“That’s so silly.. I’d never fall in love with you, you know that.”

Next to him, Tsukishima snorted. “Yeah. Thank God.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is a prime example for *writes drabble that is only vaguely inspired by the prompt*  
> Thanks for 50 kudos!!!


	5. haze

Coach Ukai looked like he was about to devour either Tsukishima (the victim in this situation) or Hinata (the perpetrator of this whole mess).

“We have a practice match against Nekoma next week, and you choose to get injured _now_?” he asked without even trying to hide his anger and disbelief in this very moment.

Tsukishima looked up and adjusted his glasses with a small flick of his index finger. “It’s not like it’s broken or anything.. Right?”

“Hm.. No, I suppose the muscle is a little strained. It will go away after a few days,” Shimizu muttered. Behind her, Noya and Tanaka were sending death glares of pure jealousy into Tsukishima’s general direction.

The boy sighed and shrugged, only to flinch in pain. “Well.. See.” He shook his head. “I’ll be fine in a week, Coach.”

Ukai stared at him for a few seconds, as though he was looking for doubts. When he didn’t seem to find any, he shrugged and ran his hand through his hair. “Guess it can’t be helped then. Practice is dismissed for today anyways. You guys clean up and get your asses home. And do your homework.”

“Woah, you sound like you’re actually worried about our future, Coach.”

“About that, Hinata..”

Tsukishima snorted when Ukai grabbed Hinata by the neck and dragged him outside the training hall, probably to give him some extra hard assignment for recklessly crashing into Tsukishima and causing him to hurt his shoulder.

“Tsukki,” a familiar voice spoke up. Tsukishima glanced up.

“Are you ok?”

“I’m not going to die, if that’s what you want to hear.”

Yamaguchi grimaced and shook his head vehemently. “That’s not what I meant! You know that,” he added, voice low.

Tsukishima rolled his eyes. “Don’t be so touchy.”

Instead of replying, Yamaguchi pouted at him before turning away and joining the others in cleaning up the hall.

 

* * *

 

Judging from the noise – or lack thereof – the shower room was empty. Tsukishima let out a deep sigh and opened his eyes. The water rushing down his body was slowly turning colder, but not cold enough for him to leave his shower stall already. The heat felt nice on his hurting shoulder and he had hoped that staying under it for a while would have relieved some of the pain. Somehow, his thoughts had wandered off though, and before he knew it, at least twenty minutes had passed in which he had done.. nothing.

Behind him, the sound of footsteps on wet tiles resonated throughout the room. Someone tapped their fingertips against the shower stall’s door.

“Hmm?”

“It’s just me, Tsukki. Are you alright?”

“I’m fine.” He paused. “I was just hoping the water might help.”

“Ah, I see..” Yamaguchi didn’t say anything for a moment. “Hey, you couldn’t scrub your back with your shoulder like that, right? Want me to help?”

Tsukishima furrowed his brows. “I don’t usually scrub my back at school..”

“Oh, well then..”

“But if you _really_ want to,” he added quickly. He could practically see how Yamaguchi’s face lit up at these words. He opened the stall and slid inside swiftly.

“Alright.. soap?” He didn’t even wait for Tsukishima to say anything, but reached past his body to grab the bottle from the holder. Yamaguchi’s chest brushed against his arm and for a moment, he held in his breathe while his best friend muttered something about how their teammates were already headed home.

“Does your shoulder still hurt?” Yamaguchi attempted to make light conversation as he put his hands to Tsukishima’s back. They felt nice on his skin – broad and coarse and very firm as they pressed against his skin.

“It’s fine. I just can’t move my arm.”

“Oh.. Sounds tedious,” Yamaguchi sighed. His breath hit the back of Tsukishima’s neck and made him shiver. All of sudden he became acutely aware of how small the stall was for the both of them. Wouldn’t it be weird if anyone walked in and saw them like this?

“Your skin is so soft, Tsukki,” he heard Yamaguchi’s voice again. He frowned.

“So?”

“Nothing. I just noticed.” Yamaguchi’s hands rubbed over his side and down to his hips before they slid up again. For a moment he wondered what it would feel like to have his arms wrapped around his waist and pulled close to his body..

Was the shower room getting hotter or was that just his imagination? 

Maybe the heat was getting to him. Due to the hot water, the entire room was all hazy and it was hard to see further than a few inches. The fact that he wasn’t wearing any glasses added to it.

“Hey, you always said you didn’t have any moles.. There’s one right here!” Not being able to process Yamaguchi’s cheerful words fast enough, feeling his finger press against the skin right above his ass almost made Tsukishima jump flat against the wall.

“What the..” Tsukishima glared at him over his shoulder, “Don’t touch me like that out of the blue!”

“I just scrubbed your back, I didn’t think you’d be bothered by it..” Yamaguchi looked like a puppy who had been beaten with a rolled up newspaper. It immediately made Tsukishima feel bad and he looked away, bringing his hand to his face only to remember that he wasn’t wearing his glasses right now.

“Oh well.. I’ll be waiting in the dressing room then, Tsukki..”

He watched as Yamaguchi’s scrawny figure disappeared through the haze. When the door fell shut, Tsukishima cleared his voice.

“Th.. thank you..” he muttered. The words sounded so strange with his voice and reminded him of when Kageyama tried to say ‘nice’, but had utterly failed at it. “Thank you,” he repeated, this time a bit louder. His hands slowly grasped the faucet and turned off the water.

“Thank you, Yamaguchi.” His voice was barely a whisper, but what he was saying still made him blush in embarrassment.

He would probably blush even harder when he said those words to Yamaguchi later.


	6. flame

 

When the tv went out at the same time as the room turned dark, Yamaguchi thought Tsukishima had thrown a blanket over him out of anger over losing at Mario Kart. He blinked into the darkness and turned his head around. Through the window, moonlight shone into the room and illuminated it sparsely.

“Is that.. a power outage?”

“I guess so.” Tsukishima dropped the controller on the floor and sighed. “Again..”

“Does this happen a lot?”

“There’s a construction site not too far away from here and the power keeps going out since they started working there.” Tsukishima shrugged and rubbed the back of his neck. “It’s really annoying.”

Yamaguchi tilted his head to the side. “I didn’t know that..”

“The power won’t be back for a while, I guess. I think there’s a flashlight in the drawer of my desk.”

Even though he could barely see anything in the dark of the room, Yamaguchi knew that Tsukishima was staring at him expectantly. He sighed and got up from his pillow.

“The bottom drawer?” he asked, more to himself, before opening it. It was impossible to see anything, so he pulled his phone out of his pocket and used the display’s light to illuminate the drawer. “Hm… Eh? Tsukki?”

“Hm?”

Yamaguchi didn’t answer and stared blankly into the drawer in front of him – or more like, at the contents of said drawer.

“What is it? No flashlight?”

“Uhm..” He cleared his throat nervously. “Well, there’s a candle here..”

“Ah… Guess my brother took the flashlight to Tokyo again.” Behind him, Tsukishima clicked his tongue. He could hear the rustle of clothes, before his best friend leaned over his shoulder.

“He uses that drawer to deposit all kinds of stuff he doesn’t want our mother to find, since she keeps rummaging in his room when he’s away.” Following Yamaguchi’s gaze, his lips curled into a sly smile. “Ah, I see.” He sighed heavily, his breath brushing over Yamaguchi’s ear and neck and causing the boy to shiver.

“What? Are you so freaked out?” Tsukishima reached past him and pulled a small box out of the drawer. “Did you think those were mine?” Before Yamaguchi could reply, Tsukishima continued, “They’re a small size, so I doubt they’d fit.”

“Well.. aren’t _those_ sizes hereditary..” Yamaguchi glanced at Tsukishima from the side. His friend shot him an angry look.

“I can assure you that it’s not the case with Akiteru and me.”

“If you say so.”

“I’m serious.” Tsukishima scoffed. He dropped the box of condoms back into the drawer. “He also keeps his porn stash and his booze here.”

“Tsukki, I’m slowly losing all the respect I harbored for your big brother.”

“It’s alright..” His best friend gingerly put a hand on his shoulder and gave him a serious look. “There was never any to begin with.”

“You’re so heartless!” Yamaguchi cried out. He shook his head furiously and pressed the pads of his index fingers against his temples. “I always liked your brother and now I know he’s consuming porn and drinking and probably having sex..”

“With his probably small dick.”

“Yeah, with his probably.. Tsukki!!”

Tsukishima fell back and let out a sharp laugh, while Yamaguchi whined and shook his head furiously in an attempt to get these mortifying images out of his head.

“Just.. let’s just light this candle so we aren’t completely in the dark here.”

Tsukishima sniffled and gasped for air. “Su.. sure. We can use the light to go through his porn mags, if you want.”

“Let’s _not_.”

His cheeks were burning and his fingers shook notably when he pulled the candle – apparently cinnamon scented – out of the drawer. Behind him, Tsukishima kept trying to calm down, but broke into laughter every few seconds. Yamaguchi wasn’t sure if that was because he enjoyed his best friend’s terror, or because he kept thinking about his own brother’s probably-small dick.

 

* * *

 

They had left the candle on the desk next to the door, far away from the bed, but it didn’t take all too long for its scent to fill the room. Tsukishima scrunched his nose and turned his head to the side a little.

“Smells like Christmas now.”

“It makes me want to eat cookies,” Yamaguchi admitted. He stared straight at the ceiling above them. If he turned his head and looked back at Tsukishima, he’d probably die.

After all, Tsukishima hadn’t allowed him to lie on his bed with him ever since they had spooned on accident.

“Really.. My mom is good at baking.. You should come over and help her make Christmas cookies when it’s time.”

“Isn’t that something you should do with her?”

“I hate baking. Besides, the kitchen counters are way too low and they make my back hurt if I have to work on them for longer than a few minutes,” Tsukishima replied.

“I didn’t know that.. So being tall isn’t a strictly positive thing.”

Tsukishima rolled his eyes before closing them. “Of course it’s not.” He turned his head away from Yamaguchi and looked at the ceiling as well.

Silence fell over them. Unlike usually, it didn’t bother Yamaguchi this time. It was nice, actually. A comfortable silence between two people who had known each other for a long time and weren’t afraid or nervous around each other.

He had almost dozed off if Tsukishima hadn’t started talking all of sudden.

“I’m glad you’re here tonight.”

His voice was so low that Yamaguchi feared he had only imagined it.

“I’m happy my parents are visiting Aki but..” Tsukishima’s voice trailed off. He didn’t seem like he wanted to finish that sentence.

“It’s alright.. I know that you don’t enjoy being lonely.” In a moment of sudden courage, Yamaguchi firmly placed his hand on top of Tsukki’s. To his surprised, Tsukishima didn’t pull away.

“Thanks, Yamaguchi.”

He didn’t even have to look at Tsukishima to know that he was smiling right now.


	7. formal

“You really didn’t have to come.” Tsukishima swiped a piece of invisible fuzz off his knee as he spoke, “It’s going to be really boring.”

“But I got an invitation and I already told your brother that I was going to attend. It wouldn’t be fair to back out of it without any reason.”

“Hm..” Scrunching his nose, Tsukishima turned his head away and looked out of the window. The wedding reception (one of many, apparently) was going to be boring as hell, he knew that, and he should have been grateful that his brother had sent an invitation to his best friend. Despite all this, he was only capable of feeling embarrassment and annoyance in this moment. Knowing how awkward Yamaguchi was, it would be a best idea to stick close to him for the entire day.

“I’ll see you there, then,” he ended the phone call. He could hear Yamaguchi say something, but it didn’t matter. They’d see each other in a few minutes anyways.

 

* * *

 

The reception was at a hotel whose name Tsukishima couldn’t even pronounce. While his parents immediately engaged in a conversation with people who seemed the be the bride to be’s brothers, Tsukishima pulled his cellphone out of his pocket. It was not even 2 pm, and the party would last until the evening, according to Akiteru’s words. He let out a deep sigh and glanced around.

None of the people here seemed even remotely familiar to him. Yamaguchi was supposed to be around here as well, but he couldn’t see a single person with the same messy hair and unruly cowlick as his best friend, so he didn’t have any choice but to walk around aimlessly and try and find Yamaguchi himself. Knowing his best friend, he had been considerate enough to turn off his cellphone for this event, so calling him would have been futile.

“My, Kei, you look so sharp today!”

Hearing the bell-like voice behind him, Tsukishima rolled his eyes before turning around and forcing a smile. His brother’s fiancé smiled back at him, though it wasn’t forced on her side.

“I’m so glad you made it. Aki said you might be busy with studying, so I was really worried you wouldn’t come.”

“I wouldn’t want to miss any of your wedding receptions if I can avoid it,” Tsukishima replied and hoped it didn’t sound as two-faced as he felt right now. The woman didn’t notice anything of that, apparently. She merely giggled (of course she covered her mouth like the good girl she was) as if he had just told her the best joke ever.

“You’re such a charmer, just like your brother. Oh- speaking of which, have you seen him?”

“I only arrived a few minutes ago,” Tsukishima shrugged, “Have you seen Yamaguchi?”

“Yama—” Her voiced trailed off and she squinted her eyes. “Oh, you mean Tadashi! I fixed his hair a while ago, he said he was going to head to the balcony now.” She pointed at a large glass door, framed by white curtains that were swaying in the wind. “Maybe he’s still there?”

“Ah..” He had no idea for whatever reason Yamaguchi would want to check out the balcony, but nodded nevertheless. Muttering a _Thank you_ , he turned around and headed over to the door his future sister in law had pointed at.

 

* * *

 

It was sunny, but still cold enough for him to shiver slightly when he stepped outside. Folding his arms, he glanced around. There weren’t many people here – only a young man talking on his phone, and two children who admired the view.

“Tsukki!” He felt a familiar hand touch his shoulder, and turned around.

“Ya… maguchi..?” Tsukishima squinted his eyes at the person in front of him. He had the same height as Yamaguchi, the same eyes, the same freckles… “You look different,” he mumbled.

Yamaguchi looked away with a nervous blush forming on his cheeks. “Ah, your brother’s fiancé said I’d look less shaggy if I put my hair in a pony tail.. Does it look weird? I haven't even noticed how long it's gotten!”

“Not at all.” He was surprised by his own words and turned away quickly. “You really do look less.. _shaggy_.”

“I’m glad!” Yamaguchi didn’t seem to notice how flustered he was and walked over to the balustrade. There was a park with a huge pond behind the hotel building. The sun reflected in the water, blinding Tsukishima for a moment. “I’ve never been to a wedding reception before, so I was really nervous.. My parents were so jealous when they brought me here.”

“There will be more parties like this, apparently.”

“Seriously? I always thought the reception was after the ceremony.”

Tsukishima sighed deeply. “According to the bride, ‘wedding reception’ is just another word for ‘party where relatives meet’.”

Next to him, Yamaguchi giggled. “You sound like you don’t like her. Are you scared she’s stealing your brother away?”

“I’m— _**no**_.” Tsukishima huffed and tried to glare at Yamaguchi, but it only made his friend laugh.

He shook his head and leaned against the balustrade.

“I’m not scared.. She’s just so..”

“Cheerful?”

“Yeah. People like that tire me out.”

Yamaguchi nodded silently. “Guess you can endure my presence because I’m such a miserable person.”

Completely taken off guard by those words, Tsukishima turned his head to Yamaguchi so fast that it made his neck hurt. “Who even said that?” he hissed, ignoring the pain.

Yamaguchi shook his head quickly, and raised his hands in front of his chest. “Nobody.. Really. I just..” His voice trailed off. “Compared to you..”

“Stop comparing yourself to me.” His tone sounded meaner than he had intended to, Tsukishima was aware of that. He couldn’t fully explain it – lately he had gotten so sensitive when it came to Yamaguchi. His friend would often talk himself down, but the past few months it had left an effect on Tsukishima. He caught himself wondering about how Yamaguchi felt this particular moment whenever his thoughts trailed off. Was he alright? Was he sad? Was he crying when Tsukishima wasn’t there?

The thought of not being there for him made his chest ache, and he couldn’t even explain why that was. He had never cared about it in the past, so why now?

Digging his teeth into his lower lip, he grabbed Yamaguchi’s arm and forced the boy to look at him.

“You’re not.. miserable.. or pathetic..” It was hard to talk when Yamaguchi was looking at him with those big eyes that Tsukishima had learned to love so much. He could feel the heat rising up his cheeks and making his face burn. “I like you,” he eventually blurted out.

Yamaguchi seemed to be as surprised as Tsukishima himself was. He stared at him with his mouth gaping open.

“Uh… I like you too, Tsuk—”

“Good.” He let go of Yamaguchi’s arm and turned around, adjusting his tie as if it hadn’t been tight enough already. “I’m hungry.” Without waiting for whatever Yamaguchi might have wanted to say, he walked back into the hall, prepared to shove everything edible that might come his way down his throat.

He really, really, _really_ shouldn’t be allowed to talk anymore.


	8. companion

“Yamaguchi.”

Tsukishima spoke his name low and cautiously, but it still resonated from the tiled walls of the bathroom and sounded impossibly loud. His slow steps scratched over the floor, pausing in front of every door, before he came to halt before the last stall.

Yamaguchi could hear him breathe, and see his expensive brand shoes through the gap between the floor and the door. He pulled his legs closer to his body and tried to stifle the sob that tried to find its way out of his lungs.

“Yamaguchi,” Tsukishima repeated. His fingernails lightly scratched against the door, like the claws of a cat. “Open the door.”

“Go away, Tsukki.” His words were followed by another sob, this time a bit louder. He didn’t want to face his best friend – not when he was in this kind of state. He didn’t have to check a mirror to know that his eyes were red and puffy from crying so much, and that he looked absolutely miserable right now. Not like he didn’t look miserable all the time already.

Behind the door, Tsukishima clicked his tongue. “Open the door, Yamaguchi.” He paused for a brief moment. “I brought tissues.”

Yamaguchi dug his teeth into his lower lip to keep more tears from streaming down his cheeks, but when he reached out to unlock the door, it was already too late. The moment Tsukishima opened the door, even more tears prickled in his eyes. He turned away, in an attempt to hide his face from his friend.

“Don’t look at me.”

“I already saw you,” Tsukishima replied, sounding as nonchalant as ever. He grabbed for Yamaguchi arm and forced him to look at him.

“Don’t..”

“It’s alright.”

Yamaguchi squeezed his eyes shut. No matter how friendly Tsukishima sounded, he still feared that his friend was in reality incredibly annoyed at how weak he was. Which 15 year old boy ran off to the bathroom crying just because his classmates had made some mean remarks? He was. He was this weakwilled 15 year old guy who did this.

Something soft touched his cheek and made him open his eyes. Tsukishima was holding a pack of tissues in one hand, and wiping his tears with the other. He didn’t say anything, and showed not a single reaction when even more tears started streaming down Yamaguchi’s cheeks.

He sniffled.

“Tsukki..”

“It’s ok.” Tsukishima’s voice was unexpectedly soft, and it only made Yamaguchi’s chest hurt. He crumpled up the tissue in his hand, and shoved it into the pocket of his jacket, apparently giving up on trying to wipe his friend’s tears.

“I’m sorry.. For crying..” Yamaguchi muttered as he brought his hands to his face. No matter how hard he rubbed his eyes, the tears just wouldn’t stop. By now he had no idea anymore whether he was crying because his feelings were hurt or because he felt so disgusted by himself.

“Don’t apologize.” Tsukishima’s hands reached past his cheek and touched the back of his head. Unable to comprehend the situation immediately, Yamaguchi let himself get pulled closer to Tsukki, until his face was pressed into the crook of Tsukishima’s neck. “Just relax,” his friend muttered. He kept his hand in Yamaguchi’s hair, while the other was wrapped around his waist.

“Tsukki?” His breath hit the skin on Tsukishima’s neck and only made him more aware of how close they were right now. He was certain that feeling him breathe against him like this was something that would gross Tsukishima out. Trying to wriggle out of his grip, Yamaguchi put his hands against his friend’s chest.

“Let me _comfort_ you, goddammit,” Tsukishima hissed.

Yamaguchi stilled and held his breath for a moment. A single tear slowly rolled down his cheek and dropped onto the black fabric of Tsukki’s jacket.

“I’m sorry..” he mumbled, voice thin and shaky.

“I’m not angry,” Tsukishima replied.

It was those three, simple words that seemed to take a huge weight off of Yamaguchi’s chest. Fearing that he might start crying again (did he ever stop?), he buried his face in the crook of Tsukishima’s neck again.

“You don’t comfort me usually.” His lips brushed against Tsukishima’s skin when he talked. He’d just have to lean in a bit more and he would be able to kiss him there – the thought alone made his face burn even more than it already did.

“I haven’t seen you cry this badly in years,” Tsukishima muttered. He took in a deep breath. “I was worried. So I came.”

He spoke so bluntly that it was obvious how embarrassed he was over his own actions. Yamaguchi couldn’t help but smile. “Thank you, Tsukki.”

“It’s nothing,” he replied stiffly. Whether consciously or unconsciously, his fingers had started to move across Yamaguchi’s scalp. It was but a small gesture, but impossibly soothing at the same time.

“Lately you’re really nice to me..” Yamaguchi closed his eyes, allowing himself to inhale the scent of Tsukishima’s skin. Sadly, it didn’t smell of strawberries, as he had expected. “You even said that you liked me at the wedding reception..”

“That’s because I do.” Tsukishima held his breath for a moment, before he lowered his voice. “I really do like you.”

“Like like?” he joked, followed by a short, nervous laugh. When Tsukishima didn’t reply, Yamaguchi pulled back and looked up.

Tsukishima’s face had taken on a deep, lush red, and he avoided looking at Yamaguchi by pointedly staring at the wall opposite to the door. Yamaguchi’s mouth was dry as the desert when he stared at him.

“Li.. like like..?” he repeated, voice trembling.

He wasn’t sure how much time passed – it seemed like hours – until Tsukishima huffed and rolled his eyes.

“Isn’t that _obvious_?” he snarled, eyes squinted at Yamaguchi. The boy took a step back, forcing a nervous smile.

“Well.. it’s hard to read you..”

“That’s not even an excuse. Besides, aren’t you supposed to give an answer!”

“What kind of— oh.” Yamaguchi’s smile vanished. All of sudden he became aware of how weird their situation was – two guys in a bathroom stall, one of them with his eyes puffy from crying, the other blushing like mad and awaiting an answer to his.. ‘ _Confession_ ,’ the word hit Yamaguchi like bricks.

He swallowed and scratched his cheek nervously. “Isn’t it.. obvious..” He glanced at Tsukishima, who was staring at him, even though it seemed difficult for him to do so. “I’ve always liked you, Tsukki. I mean.. I’ve admired you so much, but lately I’ve started to like you even more.”

Talking about his feelings like this made him feel lightheaded. His fingers and knees shook so badly, Yamaguchi feared he would pass out any moment while he waited for Tsukishima to say something, _anything_.

“I like you,” his best friend muttered eventually. “I don’t know when it started but.. I like you.” Tsukishima stared at the tiles to their feet, before he slowly looked up again. “A-and apparently you like me too so I guess everything’s cool.” He seemed embarrassed over the fact that he had stuttered a little, and turned around. “We’re cool.”

“If you say so, Tsukki.” Yamaguchi grinned at the back of his friend’s head. When Tsukishima unlocked the door and stepped out of the stall, he grabbed for his hand in a moment of unexpected courage.

Tsukishima gave him a puzzled look.

“Nothing..” He squeezed his hand tightly. “I’m just glad you came for me, Tsukki.”

For a second, Tsukishima only stared at him. Then, his expression softened. He raised his hand and brushed some of Yamaguchi’s hair out of his face.

“Always.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Aaaah 100+ kudos.. Thank you so much for reading this! (✿´‿`)


	9. move

 

Yamaguchi felt like he had downed three giant mugs of coffee in a row. His hands were shaking and sweaty, no matter how often he wiped them on his pants, and his heart seemed to be racing hundreds of miles in a single second. Glancing to the side, he risked a short look at Tsukki.

God, he was so beautiful.

The light of the tv screen reflected in his glasses while he chewed on the wooden stick of the popsicle he had eaten earlier. His eyebrows were furrowed in concentration while his thumbs hit the buttons on the controller. Seconds later, a sad chime sounded through the room, indicating that he had lost.

Tsukishima threw the controller on the floor and leaned back against Yamaguchi’s bed with an annoyed, drawn out sigh.

“It’s impossible to beat him,” he muttered, before finally pulling out the stick between his teeth and throwing it into the trashcan under the desk.

“Ah.. And here I thought I was just really bad at this game. But if not even you can do it..” Yamaguchi’s voice trailed off. While talking, his gaze had wandered and eventually reached Tsukishima’s lips. He had never thought much of them, but right now they seemed liked the absolute and most perfect pair of lips he had ever seen. He swallowed and forced himself to look away.

“I’m sure there’s a trick to it,” Tsukishima said. He turned his head to look at Yamaguchi, who had leaned in and grabbed for the controller. Feeling his friend stare at him, he fumbled with it nervously. “You ok?”

Yamaguchi almost dropped the controller again when he heard Tsukishima’s voice this close to his ear. He leaned to the side to bring more distance between them, and nodded furiously. “Of course! I’ve never been better!” Letting out a breathless laugh, he grabbed the controller in his hands a little harder. “How about I’ll try it again.”

Not even bothering to wait for Tsukishima’s reply, he started the game again. The first stage was easy and only consisted of walking through the entire dungeon until the game character reached a golden door, behind which the boss monster waited for him. Concentrating on minor mobs who tried to harm him distracted him from Tsukishima’s presence a little. Only that whenever he moved his arms a little, his elbow bumped against his best friend’s, which sent a shiver down his spine…

It had been like this for almost two weeks now. They were able to act normal at school and during volleyball practice, but as soon as they were alone, Yamaguchi’s heart seemed to act on his own. Whatever Tsukishima did – talk to him, look at him, touch him – had a huge effect on him. Frankly, he was getting tired of it. It was like living in constant fear of something big happening, but he had no idea, what it was. And he had no idea how to end it or word his complaints to Tsukki, either.

He was about to walk through the golden door, when he felt a hand land on his shoulder. Letting out a yelp, he dropped the control, pausing the game on accident. Next to him, Tsukishima made a startled noise.

“Are you alright?”

“I’m fine,” Yamaguchi squeaked, voice almost breaking. Tsukishima’s hand felt hot and heavy around his shoulders, and it didn’t help that he was getting pulled closer, either.

“You’re really weird lately,” Tsukishima mumbled. He had leaned in a little and stared right into Yamaguchi’s eyes. The boy’s cheeks started to flare up, judging by the feeling of it, under his piercing gaze.

“What could you possibly mean by that..”

“You tell me.”

They stared at each other for a few very long, very unnerving seconds. Yamaguchi could feel sweat trickling down his neck. His breath seemed to have gotten heavier, choppier – Tsukishima’s too, or maybe he only imagined it. Biting his lip, he turned his head away and closed his eyes in defeat.

“Oi, Yamaguchi.” Tsukishima sounded annoyed, his grip on Yamaguchi’s shoulder tightening. He let out another sigh. “I’m trying to make a move on you here. It would be nice if you played along.”

“Eh..” The moment that noise found its way out of his mouth, Yamaguchi regretted it. His face seemed to turn impossibly redder and he looked down. “I’m.. Tsukki??”

“We’re dating, so..” Tsukishima ran his free hand through his hair before shaking his head. “Nevermind.”

He pulled back, and Yamaguchi immediately missed the warmth of his arm around him. It wasn’t like he had forgotten that they were dating – he had, however, feared that Tsukishima had changed his mind in silence and expected Yamaguchi to read the situation like this.

“I’m sorry.. Tsukki!” Grabbing the fabric of Tsukishima’s shirt, he pulled his.. _boyfriend_ closer.

Tsukishima gave him a startled look. “Yes?”

“Please..” He cleared his throat nervously, even though it wasn’t necessary, and released his grip on the fabric. “Please.. make a move on me,” Yamaguchi muttered barely audibly.

 

* * *

 

He had no idea how exactly he had ended up in this position, but he definitely didn’t hate it. Lying flat on his back on the carpet in front of his bed with Tsukishima on top of him was _amazing_. Of course he was heavier than Yamaguchi, but he liked it; even **loved** the feeling of their upper bodies pressed against one another.

His fingers clenched in the fabric of Tsukishima’s shirt when they broke the kiss. He had never kissed anyone before, so this was a completely new experience for him. Yamaguchi had never imagined there to be so much saliva involved (or so much tongue, really), but it seemed like heaven to him.

Tsukishima’s face was red all over when he pulled away and looked at him through halflidded eyes. At one point he had discarded of his glasses and they were lying on the floor somewhere, but he didn’t seem to care about it at all. Not like they ever separated enough from each other to make it hard for him to see Yamaguchi.

“More,” Yamaguchi whispered. The red shade of Tsukishima’s cheeks only seemed to darken, and he leaned in again.

“I was just catching a breath, really.”

He kissed Yamaguchi again, harder this time. It felt like something had shifted – they had been so frantic and nervous before, so addicted to kissing each other after they had gotten past the first few, after which both of them had been too embarrassed to look at each other, until one of them had been brave enough to start again.

Yamaguchi’s hands slid under Tsukishima’s shirt and pulled it up, exposing his back. His finger tips traced mindless patterns over his skin and made Tsukishima shiver. He moaned – actually _moaned_ – into Yamaguchi’s mouth and gripped his dark hair, into which he had buried a hand, harder.

“’like you so much,” Yamaguchi started, his speech slurred, when they separated again. Tsukishima looked down at him, his brown eyes seeming like molten gold. “Make lots of moves on me, Tsukki.”

“Idiot..” Tsukishima clicked his tongue and covered Yamaguchi’s eyes with one hand, before he pecked his lips again.

He huffed.

“I was gonna make moves even without you telling me to.”


	10. silver

He hated old mansions like these. Endless corridors, adorned by portraits of long gone people, thick carpets that swallowed every sound, yet there were wooden floor boards that creaked so loudly it sounded like they were yelling at him. The wind seemed to creep into every crevice and crack, through the windows and walls, and reached out for him. It pulled at his clothes until it found an opening to creep to his skin, cold fingers sliding over his body and freezing him down to the bone.

With a muffled whimper, Yamaguchi grabbed the silver dagger in his hand harder.

Oh, he didn’t want to be here. He had never wanted to. He was fine being the sidekick, the little helper who cleaned up the bloody messes his master made and carried the heavy stuff for him. But here he was – clutching a blade he had never wanted to touch with the intention to kill someone, and armed to the teeth.

He would make Shimada proud. He had promised he would. Right now he envied the young man who had been teaching him for roughly a year now. He was at the hotel they were staying at, probably enjoying a drink with his hunter friends, and talking about little hunter things, while Yamaguchi crept his way through the corridors of an abandoned mansion that was rumored to be the hideout of some vampire who had wreaked havoc in the surrounding towns lately.

The door he was heading for creaked loudly and swung open a bit, only enough for Yamaguchi to see the darkness lurking inside the room behind it. He swallowed so loudly, the gulping noise it made echoed in the darkness.

_Creepy, creepy, creepy._

Cold sweat trickled down the back of his neck. When the wind hit it, it was like a cold tongue was running flat over his skin. Slapping his hand on his neck, he turned around. The torch in his hand hardly illuminated the hallway. It was as though the darkness was creeping up on him, only getting repelled by the small light the flame provided to him.

_So creepy._

With a rustling breath, he turned around.

“Boo.”

The scream that found its way out of his throat was unprecedented. Loud, pitched, and definitely more intense than he had ever screamed before. He stumbled back, the torch slipping out of his hand and falling onto the carpet. It immediately caught fire. Yamaguchi wanted to run, but he only managed to take a step back before his legs simply gave in under his weight.

He fell on his ass, which didn’t even hurt much thanks to the cushioning the floor provided him.

The person in front of him started laughing.

It took Yamaguchi a few seconds until his eyes adjusted to the darkness again. Next to him, the flames were licking up the carpet, and lighting up the hallway even more.

“You should see your face! Stupid! Ahaha— Oh man, it’s a wonder you didn’t piss yourself!” The stranger gasped for air and stumbled sidewards, as if laughing and mocking him had worn them out so much, that they were about to collapse. They leaned against a portrait of a lady whose face resembled that of a horse.

Yamaguchi blinked at them. The person who had surprised him was a boy, no doubt. He was tall and slender, with short, blond hair. A pair of glasses was sitting on his nose, through which brown eyes looked at him. The most prominent feature however was his skin – pale, almost white.

He gasped for air.

“V-vampire,” he mumbled. His voice was shaking, as were his fingers when he raised his arm with the blade. The next moment, his blade was slapped out of his grip, and he found himself flat on the floor again.

The strange boy was looming over him, the heel of his shoe pressed against Yamaguchi’s chest.

“As funny as you are, I can’t have you do that,” he explained. His voice was slightly nasal, and gave him an air of arrogance that Yamaguchi really didn’t like. He took in a deep breath.

“You’re a vampire.”

“That I am.” The vampire grinned at him, flashing his sharp fangs.

“I’m here to kill you.”

The boy’s eyebrow quirked and he sighed, in a false, cheery way. “Now that escalated quickly.”

Yamaguchi’s eyes darted around. The torch’s flame was making its way up the wall by now and eating away the portrait of a bald, fat guy. His blade was.. somewhere in the dark, where he could neither see, nor reach it.

His hand grabbed for the chain around his neck and pulled on it, to produce the pendant that was attached to it. A heavy silver cross, that felt familiar in his hand and heated up to his touch immediately. He cleared his throat.

“I’m a man of the Lord.”

The vampire raised both of his eyebrows now – this time it seemed to be in honest surprise. He squinted his eyes at Yamaguchi. Unlike him, he seemed completely oblivious to the fire casually burning next to them.

“You’re an actual hunter.. Here I thought you were just a bored teenager.” He removed his foot and crouched down in front of Yamaguchi. “You’re awfully young, though.”

“Can’t say that about you, I suppose.”

He laughed again, before he nodded. “I’m 15 forever, if that’s what you’re asking.”

Yamaguchi blinked at him. They were the same age.

“How long.. How long have you been 15 now, I mean.”

Again, the vampire laughed, this time throwing his head back, which almost caused him to lose his balance. “I’m not sure if that Twilight ref was on purpose or not,” he mumbled, when he had regained his composure.

In the orange glow of the fire, he seemed almost beautiful. Well, not almost – he was beautiful. And dangerous. Yamaguchi could feel his heart race upon those thoughts.

In front of him, the vampire tilted his head to the side. His lips had twitched into a small smile as he eyed Yamaguchi. Under his gaze, Yamaguchi felt like a delicious meal. The way he eyed him, slowly, from head to toe and back up, only to stare into his eyes for way too long, made him feel more anxious than the presence of an actual vampire itself.

“You look delicious,” the vampire muttered all of sudden. He leaned in, until his knees were on the sides of Yamaguchi’s hips, and his hands were planted left and right to his head. “Like.. good enough to eat.”

Yamaguchi trembled under him. He was completely defenseless without any weapon – whatever he had on his body seemed absolutely useless now in such a close combat range. Not even the cross around his neck could provide him any hope. It seemed like an absolutely useless accessory.

“You like me too, don’t you? I can feel the way you’re staring at me. And I can hear your heart race and I saw the way your pupils dilated the moment we made eye contact.”

A slender, cold finger ran down his cheek. The vampire was grinning at him, his fangs looking like they were glowing. For the blink of an eye, Yamaguchi had the weird desire to feel those fangs on his neck.

 

* * *

 

The only thing he felt, however, was a tender clap on the head. He grumbled and opened his eyes, looking at Tsukishima sleepily.

“Did I fall asleep?” he asked while straightening up from the table. There was a small, wet spot on his textbook, probably from drooling on it.

“Right when we started with math homework,” Tsukishima replied. He sighed irritatedly. “You seemed to have an awful lot of fun in your dreams, though.”

Pausing while rubbing his eyes, Yamaguchi looked at the ceiling as he tried to remember the entire dream.

“I was a vampire hunter and Shimada was my master who wanted me to kill my first vampire by myself.. So I went into this mansion and it was suuuper scary.. But then this vampire came..” He paused, squinting his eyes, “Oh yeah, _you_ were the vampire.”

Without Yamaguchi noticing it, Tsukishima had crept closer. “Tell me more,” he demanded.

Yamaguchi raised his eyebrows at him. “Uhm… There’s nothing more, to be honest.. I made a Twilight reference, though. And..” He chuckled breathlessly, and shook his head. “You were trying to seduce me, I think.”

“Into hot kinky vampire sex, or what?” Tsukishima laughed, his breath tickling Yamaguchi’s ear and making him shiver.

“Yeah.. I don’t think I would have minded.” His voice had gotten lower, not quite a whisper, but more of a pleasant rumble, the way it always got when he was close to Tsukishima.

“What happened then?”

“You woke me up.”

“The real deal is better than dreams anyways,” Tsukishima scoffed. He leaned in and brushed his lips over Yamaguchi’s neck. “I can bite you, though.”

He could feel Yamaguchi blush just from the way the skin on his neck became warmer all of sudden. His boyfriend covered his face with his hands in embarrassment, before he gave a short, jerky nod.

“Please bite me, Tsukki.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> One day I'll write an actual YamaTsuki Vampire AU and nobody can stop me.


	11. prepared

“There’s no one here yet, huh.” Yamaguchi dropped his bag on the floor and placed the keys Tanaka had given him on the small table next to the door. He waited until Tsukishima closed the door behind them, before he started unzipping his jacket. “It’s so quiet without Hinata or Nishinoya around.”

“Hmm..” Tsukishima hummed next to him. He shoved his jacket into his locker and started unbuttoning his shirt in silence.

“Not that I mind, but.. I feel like school has gotten a lot livelier since we know them! Don’t you think so too? Tsukki?”

He could feel Yamaguchi staring at him, but Tsukishima didn’t look back at him, pointedly. A few seconds of silence passed, until his best friend let out a low sigh (which he deemed inaudibly – only that Tsukishima had heard it very well) and concentrated on undressing again.

He had just shoved his shirt into his locker when he felt Tsukishima’s broad hands on his waist. His fingers pressed into his flesh, only hard enough for Yamaguchi to feel it. Something hot brushed against his shoulder, and only seconds later Tsukishima was kissing his shoulder. He shivered. A low giggle bubbled up in his chest and he tilted his head back.

“I’ve been wanting to do that all day,” Tsukishima muttered under his breath.

“I wasn’t prepared for that,” Yamaguchi admitted. Tsukishima’s mouth moved over his skin, leaving a trail of kisses until he reached his other shoulder. He stopped and pulled away, only to lean in again and bite at the side of his neck.

“We’re alone in the clubroom, that’s pretty much the perfect opportunity to make a move on you.” Tsukishima paused in nibbling at Yamaguchi’s skin and pressed another openmouthed kiss to his neck. “And you said you wanted me to make lots of moves on you. And bite you, too.”

A faint blush crept up Yamaguchi’s cheeks and he laughed nervously as he closed his eyes. “I think I remember saying all that, yeah.. No need to remind me.”

“Are you sure?”

Tsukishima bit him a bit harder, which caused Yamaguchi to let out a strangled noise that sounded vaguely like a grunt. He felt his boyfriend’s hand slide up a little, over his stomach and to his chest. He paused, his breath heavy against Yamaguchi’s shoulder. Then, an experimental flick. Just a small rub of his finger over Yamaguchi’s nipple, but it was enough to make him shiver.

Yamaguchi raised his hand and caught Tsukishima’s with it. Their fingers entwined almost automatically. It was understandable, seeing how often this had happened over the past few days.

“We’re at school,” Yamaguchi whispered.

“I wish we weren’t.” Tsukishima sounded so honest that it made Yamaguchi blush even harder. He rarely was – honest, that was. Of course he didn’t flat out lie to Yamaguchi (not as far as he knew), but he had a habit of keeping his true feelings to himself and never talking about them. Hearing Tsukishima say such a thing made Yamaguchi almost feel bad for stopping and scolding him.

“You could come to my place after practice,” he suggested. He turned around and wrapped his arms around Tsukishima’s neck.

They kissed, their tongues sliding against each other lazily. Saliva trickled down the side of Yamaguchi’s mouth, but it didn’t bother him. If dating Tsukishima for roughly four weeks had taught him one thing, it was that even things he usually considered disgusting could be incredibly hot when his boyfriend was the one doing them to him.

“My parents will be late today. At least that’s what they said earlier, when I left.”

Tsukishima’s mouth twitched into a grin and he kissed Yamaguchi once more. “Alright then.” He paused before he leaned in to Yamaguchi’s ear. “Prepare yourself.”

“Tsukki..”

He pulled away with a grin and turned to his locker, leaving Yamaguchi with a confused expression on his face.

Exactly one second later, the door burst open.


	12. knowledge

“What are you thinking about?”

The question came out of the blue and disrupted Yamaguchi’s relaxed state. He opened his eyes and looked at the ceiling, blinking a few times to shoo away the drowsiness. Music was playing in the back – something they both liked, for a change. Usually they only listened to whatever Tsukishima wanted to, but today he had picked a band that Yamaguchi liked as well.

“Tsukki?” he asked cautiously. Tsukishima’s hand twitched against Yamaguchi’s, but he didn’t say anything in reply. Yamaguchi sighed. “I wasn’t thinking about anything.. I think. I was just snoozing. Why are you asking?”

“No reason.” Tsukishima’s voice sounded tight, the way it always did when he wasn’t being honest. Yamaguchi squeezed his hand a little and turned his head to him.

“Are you sure?”

His friend was quiet for a few second, before he opened his mouth – only to close it again. Yamaguchi knew best to stay silent and just wait until Tsukishima spoke out of his own volition. He closed his eyes again, his head rubbing against the pillow.

About a minute passed until Tsukishima let out a loud sigh. He let go off Yamaguchi’s hand and sat up, arms resting on his lap. Yamaguchi opened his eyes again and glanced at him.

“You’re really hard to read, you know that?” he asked and sounded almost annoyed. Yamaguchi raised an eyebrow at him.

“Am I really?”

“Yeah. Like, sometimes I know you’re thinking about something ridiculous, but most of the time it’s just.. I have no idea what’s going on in your head.” Tsukishima folded his arms and squinted his eyes at him. “It’s really bothersome.”

“Maybe you only think so because your thoughts are wide open to me.”

“Really?!”

Tsukishima shot him an exasperated look, which Yamaguchi only returned with a grin. “You were probably thinking about how gay it is that we’re lying on your bed and holding hands and listening to music.” Yamaguchi paused and his grin widened. “And judging by how much you’re blushing, I’m right with that assumption.”

“That’s unfair,” Tsukishima growled. He got on his knees and turned around, hands planted left and right to Yamaguchi’s shoulders. He sat down on his boyfriend’s thighs, and looked him straight in the eyes, lips drawn tight.

“Tsukki?”

“I’m trying to read your mind.”

“Are you an esper?” Yamaguchi laughed over his own question and shook his head. He raised his arms and cupped Tsukishima’s face in his hands. “Is it really that hard to guess what I’m thinking?”

“Yes,” Tsukishima replied blankly. He still looked a little angry, but he didn’t mind feeling Yamaguchi’s hands on his face, apparently.

“Hmm.. maybe it’s because I get bullied a lot.. I kind of learned not to show my emotions easily, you know?”

“Ah..” All of sudden, Tsukishima sounded worried. His brows furrowed as he looked down to Yamaguchi.

“Anything else you want to know?” Yamaguchi ignored the sudden change of mood. His thumbs ran over Tsukishima’s high cheekbones, caressing them tenderly. With a sigh, Tsukishima closed his eyes.

“I don’t want to read your mind or anything, but I feel like I hardly know anything about you.. While you know a lot about me, I think.”

Yamaguchi laughed and closed his eyes for a moment. “That’s because I’m a really boring person, Tsukki.”

“I don’t fall in love with boring people.”

Hearing those words, Yamaguchi opened his eyes again. Tsukishima pulled back and folded his arms, head turned away. The blush on his face had gotten deeper. Yamaguchi felt like his heart was about to leap out of his chest – despite dating for over a month now, he had never even once heard Tsukishima say such things.

He had noticed his change in behavior – Tsukki was more open with him now, and he had gotten really affectionate, to a degree that almost overwhelmed Yamaguchi.

“Well.. There really isn’t much to know about me.. What do you want to know? How often I jack off?” He laughed breathlessly, his own question making him blush.

Tsukishima squinted his eyes at him. “Actually, yes. If you’re so keen on telling me.”

Yamaguchi was about to resist, but, realizing he was the one who had brought it up, he sighed. “Maybe twice a week… More often lately, though, because of.. you know…” His voice trailed off and he bit his lip in embarrassment. On top of him, Tsukishima shifted.

“Yeah, me.. me too..” They both glanced at each other, but looked away quickly. Tsukishima cleared his throat loudly. “So.. what do you think about when you..?”

“Tsukki.. You’re so invasive..” Yamaguchi shook his head and covered his face in embarrassment. “I think of you, of course. Do you even have to ask?”

“Well you could be thinking about something or someone else,” Tsukishima pouted.

“Do _you_ think about someone else, then?” Yamaguchi slowly lowered his hand again.

Tsukishima looked down at Yamaguchi’s shirt, his hand reaching out to pluck at a loose thread. “Of course not.. You’re all I can think about.”

“Tell me more.” His voice was so low, it sent a shiver through Tsukishima’s body. He looked up. Yamaguchi was sitting up and wrapping one arm around his waist to pull him closer. “Tell me, Tsukki,” he demanded, his lips brushing against Tsukishima’s jaw.

He closed his eyes in defeat. “We fuck..” he whispered. His face seemed to grow impossibly hotter. “You fuck me.”

“Is that what you want?” Yamaguchi inquired. He nibbled at Tsukki’s earlobe and Tsukishima groaned in response. His fingers dug into the fabric of Yamaguchi’s shirt.

“Yes,” he mumbled, holding his breath. He felt and heard Yamaguchi hum in content at this. A moment later, Yamaguchi pulled away and pecked his lips with a shy smile.

“You should show me how you do it next time, Tsukki.”

“Only if you show me too,” Tsukishima replied in defeat.

That was definitely not what he wanted to find out about Yamaguchi, but it would be satisfactory for now.


	13. denial

“Hey.”

Yamaguchi let out a yelp when he heard the sudden greeting right next to his ear. He stumbled to the side and his open water bottle slipped out of his hand. The cap flew off and roll over the ground, while the water inside the bottle spilled all over Yamaguchi’s feet.

Making a disgusted noise, he took a step back, water dripping from his shoes. He turned around to look at Hinata.

“What was _that_ for?”

The smaller boy looked at him, wide eyed (as per usual), and smiled nervously. “I didn’t think you’d react like that..”

“You completely shocked me, of course I would..” Yamaguchi shook his head and bent over to pick up his bottle. “Is there anything you want?”

It sounded like a mere empty phrase, just to continue the conversation, but when he looked back at Hinata, his teammate was chewing his lower lip and frowning at the ground as though he was pondering over something.

Yamaguchi decided not to say anything for now, and walked over to the place where the cap of his bottle had rolled to. When he turned around and looked back to the faucets, Hinata seemed to have made up his mind. He had clenched his fists and looked at Yamaguchi with an air of determination and.. something else Yamaguchi couldn’t quite put his finger on.

It was only when he turned on the faucet to fill his waterbottle again, when Hinata cleared his throat next to him. Loudly so.

“Yamaguchi.”

“Y-yes?” He glanced at Hinata before looking back at the bottle.

“Uhm…” Hinata closed his mouth again and scratched the back of his head nervously, before he leaned in. Wide eyed, again. “Are you and Tsukishima dating?”

For the second time in less than five minutes, Yamaguchi dropped his water bottle. This time it fell into the sink and about half of the water inside it was poured all over Yamaguchi’s stomach and lap. He jumped back, even though it was too late already.

“Now it looks like you peed yourself,” Hinata commented dryly. Yamaguchi shot him a grim look. “Anyways, about my question..!”

“We’re not!! What makes you think that!!!” Yamaguchi felt his face getting hot and he quickly grabbed the bottle again. This time, he wouldn’t drop it no matter what Hinata said.

“Huh.. really.. I’m just asking because people have been talking.”

“What kind of people?” He knew how unsteady his voice sounded but he hoped Hinata wouldn’t notice.

“Kiyoko and Yachi..”

Yamaguchi’s mouth went dry. “Are they.. uh..”

“I mean, they’re not mean about it! I think? They just keep talking about how you always look at each other like you’re in love and giggle whenever you talk during practice.. Apparently they saw you two have lunch together and you fed The Giant..”

“That’s not..” Yamaguchi paused and frowned. “ _The Giant_?”

Upon hearing that nickname, Hinata blushed and let out a nervous laugh before waving his hand dismissively. “Ah you know, Kageyama has a bunch of nicknames for Tsukishima.. Because he’s so tall but also very scary.”

“He’s not scary at all..” Yamaguchi mumbled to himself. He looked back at the bottle, which was already filled. Cold water was running over his hands but he didn’t feel like turning off the faucet just yet. “Tsukki’s very nice and kind.. He’s a bit rough around the edges but he can be really sweet. He always takes care of me and..” His voice trailed off. Tsukki was so affectionate and attentive to him and he was good at kissing and enjoyed cuddling a lot …

“Oh, you’re making that face again, like a schoolgirl in love or something,” Hinata commented next to him.

Yamaguchi sputtered and turned around, the water bottle still in his grip. Its contents poured over his chest and dripped down to his stomach, making the wet spots on his uniform even bigger.

“We’re not.. dating.. We’re just really good friends!” he whined, while clutching the fabric of his shirt in order to squeeze out some of the water.

Hinata gave him a skeptical look. “I see.. If you say so.” He shrugged and turned around. “I guess I’ll report back to Shimizu and Yachi then!”

“You.. what?”

Yamaguchi watched as Hinata turned around and sped away, back to the training hall. He shook his hand and glanced at the bottle in his hand. It was only half full, but he deemed that this was enough, seeing that he didn’t want to get himself even wetter than he already was. Screwing it shut, he grabbed his towel, which he had draped over the edge of the sink, and headed back to the gym.

 

* * *

 

When Tsukishima saw him with his wet clothes, he laughed like he did whenever he was making fun of someone – which meant that he sounded like a complete douchebag. Yamaguchi sighed loudly and glanced down at himself.

“It’s all Hinata’s fault..”

“You peed yourself because of him?” Tsukishima mocked with a sly grin on his face.

“That’s not pee, I— I dropped my water bottle!”

“Multiple times or what?”

“Yeah!” He nodded grimly and set the bottle aside before pulling off his shirt. “I’ll ask Shimizu for a spare one..” Remembering what Hinata had told him, he hesitated. “Or maybe I won’t..”

“You can wear my other shirt.”

Tsukishima had stepped closer and put his hand on Yamaguchi’s hips. They both glanced left and right down the hallway outside the gym before Yamaguchi wrapped his arms around his boyfriend’s neck and pulled him closer.

“I almost forgot.. I think the managers are noticing it,” he muttered lowly.

Tsukishima hummed in reply, “The King asked me whether I was gay. I said yes and told him he had a sweet ass and he ran away faster than a roadrunner.”

Yamaguchi gave him a baffled look, before shaking his head. “You’re so mean, Tsukki.”

“You like that.”

They both giggled before Tsukishima leaned in to give Yamaguchi a small kiss. “Go put on a shirt already. You’re distracting me.”


	14. wind

Tsukishima looked like he usually only did when Yamaguchi presented some giant beetle to him: Grossed out, uncomfortable, and very irritated. He gave the bridge of his glasses a small flick with his middle finger, before folding his arms. The girl in front of him flinched and looked away with her arms still stretched out and holding a letter in her trembling hands.

“I won’t accept that.”

“But..”

“I can’t,” Tsukishima cut her off. The girl’s face color changed from pale white to red and back to white in a matter of seconds.

“Are you.. You like someone?” When Tsukishima didn’t reply, she gasped for air. “You’re seeing someone?”

“It’s none of your business.”

Yamaguchi knew he should have felt bad for eavesdropping like this – hiding around the corner and listening to this intimate conversation. But Tsukki had asked him to come along, with an annoyed look on his face and a roll of his pretty eyes. ‘I think someone’s going to confess _again_ ,’ he had said. Yamaguchi had felt sick instantly, until Tsukishima had wrapped his hand around his wrist and asked him to tag along.

'Just slide in casually when they get annoying' was the plan. He had no idea whose measuring stick for annoyance they were using, though. If it had been Yamaguchi's, the entire meeting between his boyfriend and that beauty from the other class had never even happened in the first place.

“Do you love that person?” the girl asked. She had lowered her arms by now.

Even from this far away he could see how Tsukishima stiffened up. He cleared his throat and nodded. “I wouldn’t be with them if I didn’t.”

“That’s so strange.. You don’t seem like the type to love someone.”

Tsukishima scoffed. “Then why are you handing me this letter?”

The girl’s face turned deep red again. Her hands tightened around the letter and scrunched it up in the process. “I.. well.. I thought, maybe..”

“I think you only like the idea of confessing to some guy in high school. It could be anyone.” Tsukishima shook his head and turned away.

“That’s not true!” The girl’s arms shot forward, discarding the letter onto the ground. Her hands wrapped around Tsukishima’s arm in an attempt to stop him from leaving. “I didn’t mean it like that- And— Why do you always have to be so mean?! There’s countless girls in love with you and you always treat them like garbage!”

Yamaguchi drew in his breath. Of course he knew that Tsukishima’s rejected suitors were bitter and angry over being shot down by him, but never had any of them ever talked to him like that.

When he dared to look back around the corner, Tsukishima had yanked his arm free and stared at the girl.

“You’re acting like I have to cater to your immature wishes just because you have some baseless crushes on me.”

“That’s not what I was saying..”

“It is.” Tsukishima adjusted the collar of his shirt. “Can I go now? It’s lunch time and I’m hungry.”

The girl didn’t say anything at first. Just when Tsukki was about to round the corner, she raised her voice again.

“So you really are dating someone. Why aren’t you telling anyone?”

He paused. There was a crippling silence. Shamefully, Yamaguchi noticed that he was awaiting the answer as much as the girl did.

“It’s none of anyone’s business,” Tsukishima replied eventually, “And I’d be really angry if someone blabbed about it without my consent.” He glanced at her over his shoulder, before he finally rounded the corner. Yamaguchi stared at him for what seemed to be about a minute, until they heard a muttered curse. Then, the ripping of paper.

When he peeked around the corner, the girl was walking away, her fists clenched. The letter – torn to shreds and on the ground.

Yamaguchi let out a shaky sigh.

“That was intense.” He glanced at Tsukishima, who only rolled his eyes.

“Why do I have to deal with this all the time..”

“Hot boy problems, huh..” Yamaguchi snickered and Tsukishima couldn’t hide his reluctant grin either. “Good thing I didn’t have to confess to you like that.” He closed his eyes. “Wait, actually, you—”

His words were cut off when Tsukishima leaned in and kissed him. He leaned backwards, his back hitting the wall behind him, and Tsukki followed him. His hand squeezed his side and Yamaguchi knew that Tsukishima wanted to do nothing more than untuck his shirt and grope his naked skin.

A pleasant shiver ran throughout his entire body and he could feel how he was getting goosebumps all over. He had no idea whether it was because of the sudden gust of wind, or the feeling of Tsukishima’s tongue against his own.

“That’s dangerous here,” Yamaguchi muttered breathlessly when they parted. They both looked up to the windows on this side of the wall. Luckily, nobody was looking outside, as far as they could see.

“Yeah.. But I felt like doing it anyways,” Tsukishima muttered.

Yamaguchi grinned and gave him a playful peck on the lips. “You’re so cute, Tsukki.”

“Shut up, Yamaguchi.”


	15. order

It didn’t even take ten seconds for the door to open after Yamaguchi had rung the doorbell.

“You’re late,” where the first words Tsukishima said to him, instead of a greeting. He looked up, lips parted to continue complaining, but no sound came out.

He merely stared at Yamaguchi.

About a minute passed until Yamaguchi cleared his throat and tilted his head to the side. “Tsukki?” he asked carefully. His hand rubbed the back of his neck, which felt strangely cold this late afternoon.

Tsukishima closed his mouth. “You.. you cut your hair.”

He nodded shyly and lowered his gaze. “I told my mom that your brother’s girlfriend said that I looked shaggy, so..” He bit his lower lip and looked up through his lashes. “Does it look bad, Tsukki?”

“Um..” Tsukishima frowned at his own unintelligent sounding reply. “It doesn’t.. It looks good, really.” He raised his hand to flick Yamaguchi’s cowlick. “You still got your antenna, so I guess you’re not going to die.”

“Antenna?” Yamaguchi took a step back and touched the unruly strand of hair in an almost protective manner. Tsukishima laughed under his breath.

“Haven’t you heard the King and his Idiot talk about it a while ago? They said it’s the source of your life force.”

“I don’t even know what to say..” Yamaguchi hung his head. “Maybe I should straighten my hair like Suga..”

Tsukishima gave an amused chuckle. He stepped aside and opened the door a little wider. “Come in already.”

 

* * *

 

After Yamaguchi had greeted Tsukishima’s mother, who was already busy preparing dinner, they had headed for Tsukki’s room. It was as neat and tidy as always, and, judging from the absence of the usual layer of dust across Tsukishima’s collection of plastic dinosaurs, he had cleaned only recently.

Yamaguchi smiled and turned around. “Are you trying to impress me?”

Tsukishima made a strangled noise and looked away, pouting. “I just felt like cleaning, that’s all.”

“Really?” Yamaguchi smiled and stepped closer. He wrapped his arms around his boyfriend’s waist and looked up at him. “Or were you trying to keep yourself busy because you don’t like having to wait?”

“I wasn’t..” Tsukishima bit his lip and groaned. He closed his eyes in defeat before nodding. “Ok, maybe I did clean to keep myself busy.”

“Were you excited to see me?” Yamaguchi’s voice had dropped to a whisper, only loud enough for Tsukishima to hear.

He nodded one more time. His breath brushed against the soft skin of Yamaguchi’s face.

“I’ve only been gone for.. three hours tops. You’re really clingy, Tsukki.”

“I’m not.”

“It’s very cute. You’re very cute. Tsukki.” Tsukishima wanted to protest but Yamaguchi was already kissing him; tracing the line of his jaw with his lips before pressing a firm kiss to his neck. Tsukishima’s slender fingers ran through Yamaguchi’s hair and brushed over his neck before gripping it firmly.

“It’s so short,” he muttered when Yamaguchi pulled away. He shot him a concerned look.

“Too short?”

“No, but it’s.. unusual.”

Yamaguchi hummed in response. “Then again, it was long enough to tie it into a ponytail at the wedding reception, so I guess it was getting _too_ long.”

“I like your long hair,” Tsukishima replied, in no way hiding the stubbornness in his voice. “Regardless of how long it is.”

“Tsukki..” Hearing such words – so affectionate and honest – from his best friend was such a weird feeling. It warmed his chest and made his entire body tingle. Looking up at his face, his usually tense features relaxed, his eyes looking at him all lovingly, made Yamaguchi let out an enraptured sigh.

“I love you, Tsukki,” he mumbled. His voice sounded completely foreign in his ears, and for a second he was shocked over his own boldness.

A lush red was spreading on Tsukishima’s cheeks and he looked away, covering his face with one hand.

“I love you too, of course,” he muttered, voice muffled by his own fingers. Yamaguchi grinned at him.

“I couldn’t hear you, Tsukki.”

“I’m not going to say it again.” Tsukishima lowered his hands and glared at him – or at least he tried. He didn’t look very intimidating with his face so red.

“Eh? That’s so mean!” Yamaguchi whined. His boyfriend scoffed and wiggled out of his embrace.

“I think dinner’s ready..”

“Tsukkiii!!”


	16. thanks

When Tsukishima closed the book he was reading and rolled over so that his body was pressing against Yamaguchi’s back, Yamaguchi assumed that he wanted something entirely different.

Instead of getting a kiss, he heard his boyfriend’s voice close to his ear. “Let’s go on a date.”

He frowned and looked up from the comic he had been reading. “Huh?”

“A date,” Tsukishima repeated, “Like, an outing with the person you like.”

“I know what a date is,” Yamaguchi huffed. He looked over his shoulder. “But why now, all of sudden?”

Tsukishima didn’t reply at first. He propped his chin on Yamaguchi’s shoulder and closed his eyes. “I just thought it was a nice idea. We don’t have to do it, if you really don’t want to.”

“Of course I want to!” Yamaguchi shifted under his friend’s weight. “I was just surprised, Tsukki.”

“Is it that surprising that I want to do something with my..” he seemed to struggle with the word. Yamaguchi smiled and turned his head away, waiting for him to continue talking. “… _boyfriend_ ,” Tsukishima whispered eventually. He buried his face in Yamaguchi’s shoulder in embarrassment.

“It is.. kind of..” Judging from how Tsukishima used to behave around him – constantly pissed off, annoyed, and irritated – having him snuggle up to him, kiss him, and say cute things to him made a huge difference. Not that Yamaguchi would complain about it, ever. He loved this side of Tsukishima, and he also loved how embarrassed Tsukishima seemed to be about it.

“Like I said, we don’t have to.”

“I want to,” Yamaguchi replied immediately. He shifted underneath his boyfriend, who reluctantly pulled away. “We could.. go watch a movie, maybe?” Sitting up, he turned around to look at Tsukishima. “And we can grab something to eat afterwards.”

Looking at Tsukishima, he paused when he saw the small smile on his face. “Tsukki?”

Tsukishima snapped out of it and looked away. “It’s nothing.”

“I totally saw you smile just now,” Yamaguchi teased. He leaned in to him. When Tsukishima turned his head back to him, he was blushing.

“I’m.. happy you want to go on a date,” he explained reluctantly. He reached out and put his hand on Yamaguchi’s cheek. “I’m happy you’re putting up with me.”

Yamaguchi shot him a surprised look. “I never had to ‘put up with you’, Tsukki. I mean..” He let out a short, breathless laugh, “You were kind of a douchebag and a dick and really insensitive and rude.. But I guess that’s your charm point!”

“Ah..” Tsukishima closed his eyes. “I know I should be offended, but the thing is that you’re right, huh.”

“As long as you’re not a douche to me, Tsukki, I don’t care.” Yamaguchi flopped against him, causing both of them to fall on the mattress; Tsukishima on his back and Yamaguchi on top of him. “I love your stupid laugh when you make fun of people.”

“Again with these questionable compliments.” Tsukishima frowned at the ceiling.

Yamaguchi giggled, the sound of it stifled by the fabric of Tsukishima’s shirt. Tsukishima could feel the small vibrations against his chest. He raised his hand and put it on top of Yamaguchi’s head. When his fingers brushed against his cowlick, he hesitated.

“Ah, your antenna..”

“It’s not an antenna, Tsukki!!” Yamaguchi pouted.

“The source of your life force,” Tsukishima corrected himself. Yamaguchi playfully pinched his side.

“I’m not an alien,” he said with a serious tone of voice.

Tsukishima frowned at him and raised his index finger, wagging it in front of Yamaguchi’s face. “We don’t know that for sure.” He sat up slowly and pulled Yamaguchi closer by pressing his hand against the back of his head.

Their faces were only a few inches apart when Tsukishima muttered, “Further tests will be necessary to prove whether the subject is human or not.”

“Do the tests involve any kisses?” Yamaguchi whispered in reply. Tsukishima grinned, and nodded.

“A lot, actually.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> after this chapter, i finally added the Fluff tag because *scratches nails down face* aghrhgrhfhr


	17. looks

« Don’t you get it? You’re dulling his sparkle! »

Yamaguchi woke up with a soft gasp, eyes wide open and fixated on the ceiling. His fingers had curled into the blanket and gripped it tightly; so hard that it almost hurt. His heart was racing, blood was rushing in his ears, and his breath rattled in the silence of the moonlit room.

Only after a few seconds he noticed how tense he was. Willing himself to relax, he dropped his head back onto the pillow and closed his eyes. His fingers let go off the blanket. He wiggled them experimentally, and frowned at how stiff they were.

“Yamaguchi?” a sleepy voice mumbled next to him. Tsukishima shifted under his blanket and rolled on his back, one hand rubbing his tired eyes. “Are you alright?”

He could hear the sound of Tsukishima’s hand sliding over the blanket, and Yamaguchi reached for it. He squeezed his fingers between his own, and forced himself to smile reassuringly.

“I’m fine.. Just a bad dream.”

Tsukishima was silent for a short moment. “Wanna tell me about it?”

“It’s nothing, really.” Yamaguchi shook his head. “Just..” biting his lip, he turned his head to his boyfriend, “Remember this girl gang that called me to the roof that one time?”

“Yes,” Tsukishima replied immediately. He wiggled his hand a little, until their fingers entwined properly. “I see them in the hallway in front of our classroom a lot lately.”

“Me too, actually. I guess that’s why I dreamed of them.” He let out a deep, heavy sigh, and closed his eyes. His heart was still beating fast, but it had gotten a tad bit slower. “Just some weird stuff.. They said all these things people used to say to me. And still do.” He paused.

He knew that Tsukishima didn’t enjoy hearing about these things – he hated it whenever Yamaguchi brought them up. In the beginning he had assumed that his boyfriend hated hearing about them because of a different reason. By now he knew that it wasn’t because Tsukishima despised how weak Yamaguchi was.

Tsukishima got angry in his stead.

While Yamaguchi could only sob and whine over the things people said about him and his appearance, personality, or skills, Tsukishima was the one who got angry at their mean words and nasty thoughts.

Yamaguchi could have wept when he had realized it, but Tsukishima had only rolled his eyes and patted his head like it was no big deal. But it was one to Yamaguchi.

“It was the usual,” he whispered, “Talking about how wrong it is for me to be by your side, you know.”

Tsukishima huffed. He let go off Yamaguchi’s hand and rolled onto his side. “I’m going to beat up everyone.”

“Tsukki..”

“I’m serious.”

“Tsukki,” Yamaguchi repeated. He closed his eyes and let out a breathy laugh. “I don’t think they’d punch back, you know. Since you wear glasses.”

“I’ll wear contacts just for that.”

“Sounds dangerous.”

Instead of answering, Tsukishima put his hand on Yamaguchi’s cheek. His thumb ran over his cheekbone, and down to the corner of his mouth. “You have a cute face. With cute freckles. And really pretty eyes,” he whispered.

Yamaguchi could feel the familiar tightening in his chest. He let out a shaky breath and opened his eyes. “What are you talking about?” he asked, half jokingly.

Again, Tsukishima opted to stay silent. He leaned in and pecked the tip of Yamaguchi’s nose. Even through that tiny gesture, Yamaguchi was able to notice that Tsukishima was smiling.

“I love you,” he murmured barely audibly. He ran his hands through Yamaguchi’s unruly bedhair, frowning a little. Probably at how fast and long it had grown again.

“I love you too, Tsukki,” Yamaguchi replied cheerfully. He raised his head and pressed a kiss to the corner of Tsukishima’s mouth. “Thank you for listening.”

“Always.”

Tsukishima probably had no idea how much a single word like that meant to Yamaguchi.


	18. summer

 

When he had been in middle school, he had always pictured summer break to be more exciting. In his imagination he would meet up with friends, spend the days lazing around in his room under the cooling hands of the air condition, or go to the beach. At least the last part had come true, in a way.

Staring through the floor-to-ceiling length window opposite to the wall he was leaning against, he had a beautiful view of the ocean. The water glittered in the setting sun, almost blindingly bright. Yamaguchi closed his eyes. In the three days they had been here, they had never once gone down to the beach, no matter how often Tanaka and Noya begged their Coach to allow it. He was pretty sure that they only wanted to see Kiyoko in a swimsuit, but he didn’t dare say anything about it.

“Yamaguchi,” a familiar voice said. His lips instantly curled into a smile when he saw the person who had called out to him.

“Hey, Tsukki. All done?” While Tsukishima had been busy blowdrying his hair after showering, Yamaguchi had brought their bags to the room and asked Ukai to let them go out until it was time for dinner. Eventually, their coach had budged and let them go, but only under the condition that they would be back at least 30 minutes before it was time to eat.

“Yeah.. Let’s go before the idiots come back.” He could already hear the door to the shower rooms open, followed by Noya and Hinata shrieking something inaudible. “So damn annoying,” Tsukishima muttered to himself.

 

* * *

 

Actually, Yamaguchi enjoyed the training camp. The inn was nice, the food was good, and the owners were really kind to them. He didn’t really understand why they didn’t just stay at the school for summer vacation, but according to Ukai, visiting this particular inn was an old Karasuno tradition. The school had dished out money for it, because the mere memory of it had brought a tear to the principal's eye.

“I’m glad we finally have some time alone,” Tsukishima spoke up next to him. Yamaguchi looked up.

“M-me too, Tsukki..” He looked over his shoulder, up the winding path that led up to the inn. Seeing that they were surrounded by trees, nobody should be able to spot them, in the rare case that someone might be looking out of the window right this very moment. He took a deep breath and reached for Tsukishima’s hand.

His boyfriend tensed up for a tiny second, before he returned the soft squeeze of his fingers, and smiled. “My, so bold in public,” he scolded lowly. Yamaguchi blushed.

“I haven’t done that in a while..”

“Last night you rolled over on my futon, you know? That’s dangerous.” Despite his stern voice, Tsukishima smiled at him in a way that set Yamaguchi’s stomach aflutter.

After all those months, he was still head over heels in love with this idiot of a boy.

“Maybe we shouldn’t have taken futons right next to each other,” Yamaguchi mumbled.

Tsukishima huffed. “And have you cuddle up to Hinata, or what?” He shook his head.

“Eh? Would you be jealous?”

“Of course,” Tsukishima answered immediately. They stopped. Right in front of them, the path down to the beach straightened out, and was intersected by another narrow street leading right around the small mountain.

“Oh.. Tsukki,” Yamaguchi sighed and leaned in. They both glanced left and right, up and down, before Tsukishima leaned in as well.

The kiss was short and sweet, but the very first they shared that day. It hadn’t been easy to sneak in any affectionate gestures – before practice or after, or in the rare moments when they were alone in their room, which they had to share with Hinata and Kageyama. They had never had much time for it, always scared of anyone walking in on them.

Both their faces were red when they pulled away. Tsukishima reached up and adjusted his glasses.

“I wish we could go to the beach and eat ice cream together.. I’d help you put sunscreen on your back, but you’d get a burn anyways,” Yamaguchi mused.

“Wow, thanks..” Tsukishima clicked his tongue on feigned annoyance. “You’re a greater sadist than you let on, you know?”

“You only think that because you’re a huge M, Tsukki,” Yamaguchi replied cheerfully. He squeezed his hand before letting go of it, even though only reluctantly. Seconds later, a girl on a bicycle rushed past them. “There’s a convenience store over there, I think.. Let’s buy ice cream and watch the sunset at the beach and pretend we had lots of fun playing in the ocean today, yes?”

Tsukishima blinked at him. “Sure.. Why am I an M?” He watched as Yamaguchi headed towards the stairs that lead down to the street. “I’m not an M,” he whispered scornfully, before he followed after his boyfriend. “Oi, Yamaguchi.. I’m not an M, you hear me?”

“Sure, Tsukki..”

“I’m not!!!”


	19. transformation

 

Yamaguchi let out a long, blissful sigh when he flopped down on the bed and buried his face in the soft pillow. “I missed you so much, bed,” he said, his voice muffled by the fabric.

Behind him, Tsukishima huffed as he closed the door. “That’s kinda weird when you say this, since it’s my bed and all.”

Yamaguchi made a startled noise and rolled around. “But it’s true. I haven’t been here in sooo long, Tsukki.”

“Two weeks,” Tsukishima corrected. His hand lingered on the doorhandle and he frowned at it, as though he was pondering over something. Yamaguchi watched him for a moment, before he propped himself up on his elbows.

“Tsukki?”

“Hmm?” His boyfriend looked at him questioningly.

“Your parents aren’t home, right?”

“They went out with friends, yes.”

Yamaguchi’s mouth twitched into a light smile upon receiving this piece of information. He fell back onto the mattress and lifted his arms over his head, stretching them. He knew very well that his shirt was riding up, exposing his naked stomach to Tsukishima.

“That’s cool.. Will they be late?” he asked. He could feel Tsukishima’s eyes bore into the naked skin of his belly, but didn’t dare raise his head to look at him.

“I.. suppose.. They were going to attend some art gallery thing with their friends, and eat at a restaurant afterwards,” Tsukishima replied.

Yamaguchi nodded. He folded his arms behind his head and stared at the ceiling. “Guess we’re all alone tonight, then?”

He could hear the loud gulping noise that Tsukishima’s throat made when he swallowed. It took a while before he answered, “Yes..” Followed by this, was the sound of the key turning in the lock. Yamaguchi smiled.

“Come here, Tsukki,” he ordered – actually _ordered_ , which he would have never done before. Tonight, however, something felt different. He didn’t know what it was. The long, tiring weeks of the summer training camp, during which they had not been able to have much privacy together, or the sudden change of the weather.. Probably not the last one.

Tsukishima’s socked feet moved barely audibly. The bed creaked lightly when he put one knee on the mattress. Yamaguchi had expected him to lay down next to him, but Tsukishima flopped down right on top of his body. He took off his glasses and set them on the nightstand, before he leaned in and gave Yamaguchi’s nose a small kiss.

“What now?” he asked, feigning innocence. Without his glasses, Tsukishima’s eyes seemed smaller, which made him look a bit less cute in Yamaguchi’s opinion.

He smiled. “Weren’t you going to make moves on me?”

“Right.” Tsukishima crawled upwards, his forearms resting flat on the mattress left and right of Yamaguchi’s head. He leaned in and Yamaguchi closed his eyes and tilted his head back a little.

The first kiss was always a little.. short. It was chaste and innocent, almost a tad bit boring compared to other kisses they shared, but Yamaguchi loved it either way. He enjoyed every kiss he shared with Tsukki, no matter how long or short it was, or under which circumstances they kissed.

He wrapped his arms around Tsukishima’s waist, his fingers slipping under the fabric of his shirt right away. The skin on his back was warm and soft, and Yamaguchi couldn’t help but dig the blunts of his fingernails into his flesh for a second. Only long enough to leave those small, red crescent moon-shaped marks.

“'love you,” Tsukishima muttered against his lips before kissing him again. Yamaguchi couldn't hold back a heady sigh when Tsukki's tongue slipped into his mouth. They had had so many difficulties with this at first – with teeth gnashing against each other, too much saliva, spit dripping on Tsukishima's glasses (yes, very erotic) – but by now it came naturally. His tongue rubbed against Tsukishima's, right over that one place that made his boyfriend shiver whenever he did that.

One of Tsukishima’s hands raked through his messy hair and pulled on it lightly, but Yamaguchi didn’t mind. Tsukishima was unusually gently with him, even when he did such gestures that would be considered rough, normally. He shifted under his body when he felt a familiar heat rise in his stomach.

“Tsukki,” he whined, when their lips parted with a small, wet noise. Tsukishima sat up and gripped the hem of his shirt, before pulling it over his head and throwing it over the edge of the bed. Yamaguchi’s breath caught in his throat. He had seen him naked before, of course; it was inevitable since they were both members of the volleyball team. But it was different this time – they had never …

Biting his lip, Yamaguchi reached for the buttons of his own shirt. Tsukishima’s hands were on him the next moment, helping him unbutton it halfway before pulling it over his shoulders and discarding it onto the floor.

For a split second, both just stared at each other. Tsukishima was beautiful with his red cheeks and half lidded eyes and his ragged breathing. Then again, he was always beautiful, wasn’t he?

He leaned in once more, until he was lying flat on top of Yamaguchi, the naked skin of their upper bodies rubbing against each other. Yamaguchi felt like he was going to pass out any minute. His hand reached out to brush some of Tsukishima’s blond hair out of his face, the curls clinging to his sweat beaded forehead.

With a low, drawn out sigh, Tsukki put his forehead against Yamaguchi’s shoulder. He was silent for a few seconds, before he muttered, “I’m hard.”

“Ah.” It was all Yamaguchi was able to reply. His mind went completely blank for a moment. This had happened before already. Plenty of times even. They both always ended up like this: Embarrassed, aroused, their bodies buzzing with the urge for something both couldn’t quite describe. Normally, Tsukishima would have moved away and excused himself and that would have been the end of their make out session.

But not this time.

Yamaguchi shifted, moving his legs, until one of his was between Tsukki’s, and one of Tsukki’s was between his own legs. His boyfriend looked up eventually, giving him a curious look.

“Yamaguchi?”

He didn’t reply. He couldn’t, he feared he was going to deflate like a balloon once he opened his mouth and put any energy he had left into talking.

Cautiously, he rubbed his thigh against Tsukki. He could feel his erection pressing against his leg, and that feeling alone made him blank out for a moment, before he returned to a rush of thoughts like _Shit shit shit_ and _Oh my god that’s Tsukki’s—_ and _This is so hot_ , all at once.

On top of him, Tsukishima hissed. He could have sworn his boyfriend’s cheeks had grown redder. He nervously chewed on his lip as he stared down at Yamaguchi, who returned his gaze in an unusually firm manner.

“Yamaguchi,” he began lowly. His voice was raspy and shaky. He moved his leg, slowly, experimentally brushing it over Yamaguchi’s crotch. The movement alone made him aware of his own arousal, the heat prickling under his skin, the blood rushing in his ears..

God, he was so turned on. And it was all Tsukki’s fault.

“Together,” he whispered. He gingerly put his hands on Tsukishima’s arms and squeezed them lightly. “Please, Tsukki.. Please?”

“Can’t say no when you ask me so nicely,” Tsukishima muttered in reply. Despite sounding confident, his hands were shaking when he gripped the bedsheets on either side of Yamaguchi’s head tightly and ground against his thigh experimentally.

 

* * *

 

Yamaguchi couldn’t remember when exactly his eyes had fallen shut. All he knew and felt was the intense pleasure rushing through his body whenever his hips jerked up against Tsukishima’s thigh between his legs. Above him, Tsukishima was basically dryhumping his leg, and making noises that Yamaguchi had never even dreamed of hearing from him. Not like he was much more silent either, with the constant stream of soft gasps and ‘Ah’s spilling from his lips.

He knew he should have been embarrassed over letting himself go like this in front of his boyfriend, and making weird faces and strange noises, but he didn’t care. He was comfortable like this, in a weird way. Yamaguchi didn’t bother hide anything, and so did Tsukishima. Maybe they were too far gone to care and they would regret it later, but neither of them wanted to think about that now, as their movements grew faster and more insistent, the urge to come spurring them on.

Tsukishima’s movements were the first to change, growing more insistent, and slower. His breath hiccuped and he opened his eyes, but squeezed them shut immediately. “Tadashi.. Tadashi..”

“Tsukki,” Yamaguchi felt like he should reply, even though Tsukishima probably didn’t care about it. His hips stuttered in their movement, and he gripped the arms he was holding on to tighter. “Kei,” he muttered frantically, “Kei, Kei.”

“Tad- _ah_ -ashi!” Tsukishima leaned in closer, until their faces were only a handbreadth apart from each other. “I’m..” His voice broke off and turned into a low, whiny whimper.

Yamaguchi wanted to keep his eyes open and watch the expression on Tsukishima’s face when he came, but he couldn’t – the mere thought of it seemed to trigger his own orgasm. He dipped his head back, grunting, and could feel Tsukishima’s wet breath against his exposed throat, and his ragged breath.

The movements of their hips and legs turned into something messy, sloppy, a rhythm without any pattern to it, until they stilled eventually. Yamaguchi felt like he was going to melt into the sheets then and there, with Tsukishima on top of him. He felt completely boneless and weak, yet at the same time he wanted to take a shower when he became aware of his sticky and sweaty his body was.

“Tadashi,” Tsukishima spoke up, his voice sounding drowsy. Yamaguchi hadn’t even realized that they had switched over to first names somewhere in the middle of the evening.

“Yes? Kei?”

There was a small pause in which Tsukishima didn’t say anything. Then, his cheek was kissed. Just a small brush of Tsukki’s lips against his skin.

“Next time,” Tsukishima said, with a tone of both determination as well as excitement, “Without clothes.”

Yamaguchi’s heart seemed to stop completely for a moment. Then, he exhaled deeply. “I’m already looking forward to it, Tsukki.”

“Tomorrow then,” was the mumbled reply.


	20. tremble

Throughout the following weeks, Yamaguchi had felt like he was floating on clouds, or something like that. His parents commented on how cheerful he was, and his classmates wondered out loud why he seemed even more cheerful and chipper than usually. Not that he counted as the poster boy of sunshine and rainbows, as most people saw him as that poor, miserable guy with the freckles who only lit up when Tsukishima was around.

Even if they did ask him directly, Yamaguchi couldn’t just tell them why he was so happy. He didn’t quite know it either, but he was sure it had something to do with the fact that his relationship with Tsukishima had gotten a whole lot more intimate as it used to be. Just remembering that one evening a few weeks ago was enough to bring a smile to his face and make his heart skip a beat.

As much as he would have loved to gush to someone about how much he loved Tsukishima, he couldn’t just do that. Besides, when it came to his best friend, slash, childhood friend, slash, boyfriend, he could get so stingy. He just didn’t want to share anything with anyone, too scared that people might develop unwanted interest in his Tsukki.

Ah.

_His_ Tsukki. Realizing that he had, once again, thought of Tsukishima as his property almost caused him to drop the pencil he was holding. He glanced around the classroom and let out a soft sigh, when he realized that nobody was even remotely paying attention to him.

Tsukishima, however, didn’t mind that Yamaguchi thought of him like that. When he had accidentally said it on front of him, Tsukishima had laughed and shook his head. Then, he had pecked his cheek, right on the trail of freckles under his eyes, and said, “Well, guess you’re mine then.”

Yamaguchi silently added this memory to the _stash of memories that made his heart turn into a high speed train_ as well.

 

* * *

 

“That’s the stuff you’re thinking about when we have math?” Tsukishima blinked at him with an incredulous look on his face. Yamaguchi let out a nervous chuckle.

“You have to admit that it was a boring lesson.”

“It was, but still..” he frowned and shook his head, “I’m too scared to have sexual fantasies in broad daylight, in class no less.”

Yamaguchi gasped. “It wasn’t a sexual fantasy! I was just thinking about stuff and things and then it happened.”

“How did you not pop a boner right there..” Tsukishima shoved his head through the hole of the sweater he always wore during practice.

“I started paying attention to class before it happened,” Yamaguchi replied. He grinned at the side of Tsukishima’s face, and watched how he rolled his eyes and shot him a glance. A barely notable smile was adorning his pretty face, some mix between disbelief and mockery. He pushed Yamaguchi against the locker, ignoring the surprised yelp over how cold the metallic door was against his naked back.

“You’re unbelievable,” Tsukishima mumbled.

“Is that a compliment?” Yamaguchi asked with a mocking tone of voice. Tsukki’s expression darkened and he leaned in. His lips brushed over the outline of Yamaguchi’s face, along the curve of his jaw, until he reached his ear. He took his boyfriend’s earlobe between his teeth and bit on it, gently, but still hard enough to draw a soft gasp from Yamaguchi.

“Tsukki.. We have practice soon.”

“I know. That’s why I’m doing it now.” Tsukishima pulled back, but only enough to press his lips to Yamaguchi’s. He felt Yamaguchi’s hands travel up his spine until his fingers reached the soft curls at the back of his head and buried themselves in it.

Both of them moaned almost at the same time when their tongues touched. Tsukishima pressed harder against him, their hips aligned, and ground against him in a slow, languid motion. Yamaguchi gasped and broke the kiss, earning a curious ‘oh?’ from his boyfriend.

“We can’t do this here, Tsukki,” he scolded, “What is it with you and club rooms anyways?”

“Nothing?” Tsukishima frowned. “Implying that I have some weird club room kink?”

Yamaguchi rolled his eyes. “At least some semi-public PDA kink.”

“I won’t deny that,” Tsukishima replied. He kissed Yamaguchi again, but this time in a more tame and chaste manner. It was almost a little _too_ tame for Yamaguchi, but he decided not to say anything, and instead returned the kiss.

Too immersed in their kiss, they didn’t notice the small creak the door made whenever it was opened. When they heard a sharp gasp, immediately followed by Hinata’s strange trademark laugh (something like ‘woohahaho’), Tsukishima let go off Yamaguchi. He brought his hand to his lips, looking like he was going to wipe his mouth, but hesitated.

“What the hell is that dumb laugh for, huh..” Kageyama’s voice was heard. Seconds later, he stuck his head into the club room.

“Tsukishima totally just kissed Yamaguchi!” Hinata announced and sounded like Yamaguchi’s cousins did when the main characters of their favorite drama finally kissed after hundreds of episodes.

Kageyama blinked at them, then turned his head to Hinata. “Eh?”

“Oi, you two, what’s going on up there.”

Yamaguchi closed his eyes when he heard Daichi’s stern voice. His hands reached for Tsukishima’s arm and wrapped around his wrist, only to notice that he wasn’t the only one trembling. He looked up at Tsukki’s face. His jaw clenched and beads of sweat had formed on his forehead.

“Hinata says he saw The Giant kiss Yamaguchi.”

“Oh? That’s wonderful,” Suga replied. There was a short pause, before he let out a loud, “ _ **Eeh??**_ ”

 

* * *

 

Yamaguchi wondered if that’s what it felt like to introduce your lover to your parents. Only that his actual parents already knew Tsukishima quite well (and adored him to bits), and in this case, Suga and Daichi acted as mom and dad. Yamaguchi wasn’t sure which one of them was their child though.

Sitting in front of them, Daichi seemed incredibly uncomfortable. After they had all gathered in the club room and Hinata had explained whatever he had seen in _excruciating detail_ , their captain had deemed it important to talk about this matter.

“Well,” he began, and cleared his throat. He seemed like he wanted to say more, but he only let out a long breath through his nose. After a few moments of simply staring at Yamaguchi, he turned to look at Suga.

“Well? Suga?”

Suga looked at him, startled. “Yes?”

“Isn’t there anything you want to say?”

“Uhm..” Suga frowned and tilted his head to the side, “Ah.. Yes! Congrats, you two.”

“Thank you,” Yamaguchi replied sheepishly.

Tsukishima bumped him in the side with his elbow, and cleared his throat. “Just to make this clear, we’re not going to break up because it might make anyone here slightly uncomfortable.”

Suga raised his eyebrows in surprise, “Oh that’s not.. I mean..” His voice trailed off and he bit his lip for a second. “I don’t think anyone here thinks like that. It sure is a bit weird, but nobody would force you to quit.”

He smiled reassuringly which made Yamaguchi let out a sigh of relief. “Then.. I guess there’s no point in discussing this anyway?”

“Hm.. True.” Suga shrugged and turned to Daichi, who made a dismissive hand gesture.

“Fine. Go get ready for practice, I bet Coach is already waiting for us.”

Immediately, their teammates scrambled back to their feet and started undressing. Yamaguchi was surprised – he had assumed they were going to be a lot more shy around them. He felt Tsukishima’s elbow brush against his own and turned his head. Their eyes met. His lips twitched into a light smile. As much as he wanted to kiss Tsukishima right now, he really didn’t want to risk their teammates tolerance.

Behind them, he heard Kageyama talk. “Hey, does that mean my ass really is sweet, like Tsukishima said?”

“What?” Hinata sounded devastated, “Nah, not really. It’s totally flat, like a washboard.”

“What the hell, Hinata..” Kageyama huffed.

Yamaguchi stifled a giggle. “Maybe you should clear that up, Tsukki.”

Tsukishima raised an eyebrow at Kageyama before he looked his boyfriend dead in the eye.

“Absolutely not.”


	21. sunset

Once a week – usually it was early Saturday evening – Tsukishima stood in front of Shimada Mart and tried his best not to look like a boyfriend who was waiting to pick up his girlfriend. In a small town like this, it was inevitable not to run into someone from school when going to a store, but so far he had somehow managed not to be seen by anyone who knew him. He didn’t want to know the rumors it would cause if anyone spotted him religiously waiting for Yamaguchi to finish his shift at the supermarket every weekend.

When the automatic doors slid open and a familiar voice called out his name, Tsukishima looked up. He couldn’t help the smile that started to form on his face when he saw Yamaguchi heading towards him.

“All done?”

Yamaguchi nodded, cheeks pink from the stressful work hours. “Shimada let me go a few minutes earlier today.”

Tsukishima glanced over his boyfriend’s shoulder at Shimada, who was wiping the floor. When he noticed Tsukishima staring at him, he smiled and waved his hand at him. Tsukishima wasn’t sure whether he was seeing things, but he could have sworn that Shimada gave him some sort of playful, all knowing wink.

He frowned and looked at Yamaguchi. “Where to?”

“Oh! Uhm.. It’s my dad’s week off, so.. We should go to your place.”

“My brother’s home over the weekend,” Tsukishima sighed.

Yamaguchi made a face that came close to his ‘I have a dentist appointment’ expression, “I see.. Guess we won’t have much time alone this week.”

“Looks like it.”

“You know what they say – absence makes the heart grow fonder,” Yamaguchi recited. He wagged his finger in front of Tsukishima’s face, and smiled. “Come on. We can at least walk home together.”

Tsukishima hummed in response. He watched as Yamaguchi waved at Shimada, before they headed down the street.

“I’m starting to feel like your boss knows about us,” Tsukishima started once they had left behind the busier streets. In front of them, a bunch of elementary schoolers seemed to be heading home as well.

“Actually, he does,” Yamaguchi replied. When Tsukishima gave him a horrified look, he giggled. “He asked me a few weeks ago, so I told him. He said his, uh, ‘Gaydar’ picked up on it.”

“His _what_?”

“Intuition, Tsukki. Shimada said he’s at least bi- but he likes guys more.” Yamaguchi paused, his eyebrows drawn together. “I think he likes that Takinoue guy.”

Tsukishima nodded slowly. He couldn’t quite remember who Takinoue was, but he assumed that it wasn’t important for now, since he didn’t care about the private relationships of Yamaguchi’s boss. “Say, why do you even work there? Your parents give you enough allowance, don’t they?”

“Huh?” Yamaguchi blinked at him, surprised over the sudden change of topic. He folded his arms and looked up to the sky above them, which was drenched in a shade of red and orange, due to the setting sun on the horizon. “Hm, well, Shimada asked me and I felt like I couldn’t say no, since he’s coaching me so much.. And he said it was good for my confidence issues.”

“Confidence issues,” Tsukishima repeated, “I feel like you have plenty of confidence. Compared to how you used to be.”

Yamaguchi’s face seemed to light up immediately – or maybe it was because they passed under a glowing street lamp this very moment. “You think so? I thought so too, actually, but I wasn’t sure..”

“You’ve changed. Positively,” Tsukishima mumbled. He looked ahead of them, down the street. Without him noticing, the children in front of them had disappeared already. “I’m glad.”

“Eh, Tsukki.. You sound like you were worried about me.” Yamaguchi pouted at him, and if they hadn’t been in the middle of the street right now, Tsukishima had leaned in and kissed him right there.

“Maybe I was.” He shrugged. “Just a little.”

Yamaguchi chuckled under his breath and shook his head. “That’s cute of you, Tsukki. By the way, the money I get from my job isn’t used for videogames.”

“Huh?”

Instead of replying, Yamaguchi closed his eyes. “Do you want to know?”

Tsukishima nodded. “Of course I do. Now I’m curious anyways.”

Yamaguchi grinned and turned his head towards him. “I want to go away. On a trip.” Tsukishima could feel his boyfriend’s hand wrap around his own. It was a dangerous gesture, seeing as they were in the middle of a residential area. “With you, Tsukki.”

“With.. me?” Without noticing, his voice had gotten thin at the last word.

“Remember the summer camp? When we took a walk on the beach and ate icecream and watched the waves and the sunset?”

He nodded, “I remember.”

“I want to do that again. But I also want to play in the ocean with you and eat out and go sightseeing with you. And,” he paused and leaned in a little closer, “I think we will have much more privacy at a hotel or an inn.”

If Tsukishima had been a cartoon character, he was sure his glasses would have fogged up all of sudden at the sound of Yamaguchi’s words. He cleared his throat nervously, and reached for his glasses, only to notice how hot his cheeks felt.

“Yamaguchi..” he began, but stopped himself. He didn’t even know what to say. Was that really the shy, anxious kid he ‘rescued’ from bullies years ago? Right now he couldn’t quite believe it. “So, uh. You’re suggesting we go on a trip together, so we can..”

“Finally have sex without getting disturbed? Yes.”

“Oh my god,” Tsukishima choked out. He glanced at Yamaguchi’s, who smiled widely at him.

“What do you think?” he asked, and still managed to sound as innocent as the whole world – Tsukishima included – expected of him.

He nervously adjusted his glasses, and swallowed heavily. “I think,” he mumbled, “I think I have to talk to Shimada because I’m seeing none of the confidence issues he thinks you have.”

“Ah..” Yamaguchi tilted his head to the side, seemingly taken aback by Tsukki’s reply. He noticed how sweaty his boyfriend’s hands had gotten, and frowned. “Do you think it’s a bad idea..?”

“No!” Tsukishima almost yelled at him. He gripped Yamaguchi’s hand tighter. “I think it’s a great idea. I mean.. I’ll help, too. I’ll pay for the train tickets and.. the.. the condoms and… lube…” His voice got lower and lower towards the end, until it was barely a whisper. They should have talked about this in their rooms, not outside on the street.

“Great!” Yamaguchi smiled happily. He leaned up and pecked Tsukishima’s cheek.

“Love you, Tsukki.”


	22. mad

With his tall body, tastefully tousled hair, and frecklefree face, Kuroo was, in his essence, everything Yamaguchi had always wanted to be. He gritted his teeth as he watched him wrap an arm around Tsukki’s shoulder and pull him closer. Their faces were dangerously close to each other while Kuroo talked to him, and gesticulated with his free hand. Tsukishima gave him a look like he was being touched by an enormous cockroach right now. That tiny detail was the only uplifting part about watching them from the other side of the gym.

“That face you’re making looks super scary, Yamaguchi,” Hinata’s voice sounded behind him.

He turned around. “I don’t like this guy.”

“I think nobody does.”

“Your friend does.” He nodded jerkily in Kenma’s direction. The boy with the pudding hair was sitting on the ground, eyes fixed on the PSP in his hands. Two of his teammates sat left and right from him, and watched him play his game.

“They’re childhood friends, so I guess he’s used to Kuroo.” Hinata shrugged and folded his arms, his head tilted to the side, “Just like you are used to Tsukishima being so nasty.”

“He’s not nasty,” Yamaguchi pouted.

“He’s nasty to us. But I guess you see him differently, huh..” Hinata squinted in Tsukishima and Kuroo’s direction, as though he was trying to envision the way Yamaguchi viewed his boyfriend. “Really can’t see it, though.”

Yamaguchi smiled nervously, and bit back the word ‘Good’ for now. He glanced over his shoulder, only to watch as Tsukishima shrugged off Kuroo’s arm and tried to walk away. Kuroo grabbed for the back of his shirt and held on to it while he followed him. He said something that made Tsukishima spin around and reply to him, but Kuroo only laughed and gave him that kind of smile, that basically yelled ‘I’m a big fucking jerk’ to whoever was looking at him. When he noticed Yamaguchi staring at them, he raised one hand and waved at him. Tsukishima followed his gaze, huffed and walked away.

He headed straight for Yamaguchi. When he was only a few steps away from him, Yamaguchi smiled, opening his mouth. “Hey, Tsukki—”

“Come with me.” Tsukishima grabbed his wrist and dragged Yamaguchi with him, towards the doors leading out of the gym and into the hallway. Behind them, he could hear Kuroo laugh.

 

* * *

 

Yamaguchi wasn’t all that good with directions at places he didn’t know all that well. They had been to Nekoma High a few times already, but he still had a hard time finding his way around the sports building. When Tsukishima stopped in front of a door whose sign read ‘Locker Room B’, he frowned.

“Are we going to get changed?” he asked, but received no answer. Tsukishima dragged him into the locker room, and slammed the door shut behind them.

“God,” he exhaled.

Yamaguchi gave him a worried look. “Are you ok, Tsukki..?”

“No. Yes. I don’t know.” Tsukishima wiped his hands on his volleyball shorts as he stared at Yamaguchi. He took a step closer, and Yamaguchi took a step back. His shoulders hit the metal lockers behind him, unused, because the entire team had left their stuff all over the benches. “I hate this guy,” Tsukishima murmured. He inched closer to Yamaguchi, until he was pressing up to him.

“Tsukki-” He made a strangled noise when he caught on to what his boyfriend was aiming at. “ _Now?_ ”

“Yes.” Tsukishima didn’t seem to be bothered by the fact that he was poking his boyfriend with a hard-on in broad daylight.

“But why?” Not like Yamaguchi would deny him anything – he was up for it whenever Tsukishima wanted him to be, and vice versa. “You looked like you were having a terrible fight with that Nekoma guy.”

“Yeah, he was pissing me off.”

“And now you’re..” ‘Horny’ was the word he had wanted to say, but all that came out of his mouth was a surprised gasp when Tsukishima leaned in and latched onto his neck. He was biting so hard that Yamaguchi was sure it would leave marks that everyone was going to see. Tsukishima’s hands ran down his sides and to his backside where they slipped under the fabric of his shorts and underwear, and Yamaguchi felt like he had no choice but to do the same to him as well.

 

* * *

 

He was still dazed when they exited the locker room roughly twenty minutes later. Tsukishima had seen no point in going back to the hall, since they had left in the middle of cleaning up anyways, but Yamaguchi had been worried about what the coaches might think of them.

“Feeling better?” he asked when he turned to Tsukki.

His boyfriend paused in his actions before closing the door to the lockers, and nodded. “Never felt better.” He gave Yamaguchi the kind of smile he always had when they just finished.. _doing stuff_.

“You’re such a—” Yamaguchi was interrupted be the sound of someone whistling. Down the hallway, Kuroo rounded the corner, followed by their team’s setter.

“Oh, Tsukki!” he crooned, “There you are! We missed you.” He grinned, the same douchebag grin he had shot Yamaguchi earlier.

Tsukishima only made a small noise of disgust.

“Nah, seriously. Your coach was foaming from the mouth when he realized you were gone. Said something about making you guys run so many laps the next time he sees you.” Kuroo stopped in front of him, one arm extending to grab Kenma by the back of his shirt to keep him from running away. The boy let out an annoyed sigh, and stopped. He made eye contact with Yamaguchi for a split second, but looked away immediately. It was hard to believe he was older than them, judging by how timid he seemed.

“You don’t have to worry about us, Kuroo,” Tsukishima sighed.

The corner of Kuroo’s mouth twitched lightly at those cold words. He glanced at Yamaguchi, and his eyes seemed to widen. He leaned in closer, eyes glued to something right under his chin- Oh, right. The bitemark.

Yamaguchi tilted his head to the side and fumbled at his collar to obscure the red mark Tsukishima had left on his neck (and not only there).

“I see, I see,” Kuroo mumbled nevertheless. He straightened up again, clapping cheerfully. “Man, Tsukki, you could have just told me that he wasn’t available because you were dating him.”

Tsukishima didn’t say anything. His lips were drawn into a thin line. Yamaguchi stared at his boyfriend, then at Kuroo in front of him. Before he could speak up, Kenma reached over and tugged at Kuroo’s sleeve.

“We should go, Kuroo.”

Kuroo pouted at him, “But-”

“You’re just being a jerk to them.” He stared at Yamaguchi for a moment, his cat-like eyes making him shiver. What a scary face he could have. “Sorry, he’s always like that. That’s why nobody wants to date him.”

“What the hell, that’s not true- Kenmaaa!!” Kuroo almost tripped over his own feet when Kenma pulled him away. Yamaguchi wondered for a second whether Kenma really had that much strength, or if Kuroo was just playing along. He struggled to turn around as they headed for _Locker Room A_. “But seriously, if you ever dump Tsukki, call me. You have really cute freckles – Love those freckles, reall— _Ouch_ \- Did you just _pinch_ me?”

“I’m going to punch you,” Kenma replied, before the door fell shut.

Yamaguchi stared at the door for a moment, mouth ajar, before he looked at Tsukishima. “What the hell?”

Tsukishima made some noise between a cough and a gurgle, and fumbled at his glasses. “He’s just.. An idiot, really.”

“I don’t under..” His voice trailed off. Yamaguchi gasped for air and his eyes widened. “Oh! Oh, I see.. Were you like.. Marking your territory?”

Tsukishima looked him without saying a word, before he nodded slowly.

“Something like that.”


	23. thousand

“This has got to be a joke.”

“I think it’s nice, actually.” Outside, as if to underline Yamaguchi’s statement, thunder roared. He leaned against Tsukishima’s back, chin propped on his shoulder, and watched him stab his slice of strawberry shortcake to death. Not even getting the giant strawberry on Yamaguchi’s share had soothed Tsukishima’s anger.

“But I was looking forward to our first date,” he pouted, sounding like an upset child.

“I was excited for it too, but we can’t change the weather.” Both of their heads turned to the window. Water was splashing against the window and thunder rumbled in the distance. For a second, the sky lit up with lightning. It was hardly believable that it was only 2 o’clock in the afternoon.

“But still..” Tsukishima shoved a spoonful of cake into his mouth, as if to keep himself from complaining. Yamaguchi let go off him and crawled over to the shelf in which he kept his books and videogames.

“We could play a game.. Or watch a movie..”

“What if the power goes out?”

“Then we’re gonna make out until it’s back,” Yamaguchi replied matter-of-factly.

Behind him, Tsukishima coughed. “I think I’m ok with that.”

Yamaguchi shot him a look over his shoulder, eyes squinted and lips pursed. “Sure you are.”

“You know me too well,” his boyfriend sighed.

As though on cue, the ceiling lights flickered. They both looked up, watching the light bulbs try their hardest to stay illuminated. Only a moment later, the room went dark.

“Great,” Yamaguchi huffed as he turned around and crawled back to Tsukishima. He reached for his cup, wanting to wash down his disappointment with the last bit of lukewarm hot chocolate in it. Tsukishima’s mom had made it for them, after she had realized how annoyed they were at the sudden change of plans due to the bad weather. If course she didn’t know they were dating, and they had fed her some lie about seeing a special showing of a movie at the cinema, but she seemed to have felt genuinely sorry for them.

“Guess we _have_ to make out now,” Tsukishima sighed. “After I’ve eaten this..”

Yamaguchi laughed and stretched out on the carpet in the middle of Tsukishima’s room. He rested his head on the pillow he had been sitting on earlier, and folded his hands above his stomach. “I’ll be waiting, Tsukki.”

“One second,” Tsukishima promised.

 

* * *

 

It definitely took longer than a single second to finish his cake, but when Tsukishima leaned in and pecked his lips, Yamaguchi couldn’t be really mad. He smiled against his boyfriend’s lips. “Tastes like strawberry.”

“Obviously.” Tsukishima set his glasses aside before leaning back in. “You taste of chocolate.”

“Strawberries and chocolate go well together. I heard it counts as erotic food.”

Tsukishima stopped right in front of his lips, frowning. “What’s erotic food?”

“Uh..” Yamaguchi blinked at him. “Food that is.. sexy..?”

Tsukishima’s frown deepened. “I’ve never seen any food that I considered sexy.”

“Bananas?” Yamaguchi grinned at him, and Tsukishima’s cheeks flared up.

“That’s potassium, and it’s good for you.”

“Sure..” Yamaguchi leaned up and pressed a kiss to the corner of his mouth. No matter how desperately Tsukishima wanted to forget that incident, he just loved bringing up that one afternoon when they had revised for an exam, and Yamaguchi had grabbed a banana as a small snack. It had resulted in Tsukishima drooling on his own hand, and a study break whose length and contents surely were uncalled for.

“How long do you think it will take for the power to come back?” Tsukishima asked. His breath tickled the fine hair on Yamaguchi’s neck. He hadn’t noticed that his boyfriend had laid down next to him to get more comfortable.

“I don’t know.. hundred kisses, maybe?”

“You measure in kisses?” Tsukishima giggled – in a manly way, of course – as he twirled Yamaguchi’s ‘antenna’ around his index finger.

“Is that a problem for you?”

Tsukishima shrugged, an innocent smile on his face. “It just seems awfully short.”

“Then make it five hundred.”

“Why not a thousand?” He grinned, and Yamaguchi certainly caught that devious gleam in his eyes. He rolled over, causing Tsukishima to let go of his hair and lie flat on his back, so Yamaguchi could climb on top of him.

“You better not disappoint me,” he warned.

Tsukishima rolled his eyes, but didn’t say anything.

 

* * *

 

They certainly didn’t make it up to a thousand kisses – Yamaguchi didn’t even count them – but when they pulled away from each other and noticed that the room wasn’t dark anymore, Tsukishima’s cheeks were in a dark shade of red and he was panting audibly. He brought a hand to Yamaguchi’s face and rubbed his thumb over his swollen lips, and smiled. Yamaguchi expected anything – some cheesy line, a whispered, heartfelt ‘I love you’ – literally anything.

Instead, Tsukishima’s head dropped on the pillow under him, and he grinned at the ceiling, his eyes shut. “Remember when the power went out the last time and you found out about my brother’s tiny dick?”

Yamaguchi groaned. “ _Gross._ ”


	24. outside

“Man, your dad looks so thrilled to climb to the roof.” Tsukishima paused at the wooden gate that led out of the garden, and stared up the ladder that leaned against the side of the house. Yamaguchi’s father was halfway up, sweat already beading his forehead.

“He acts like he hates it but he loves it when my grandparents need him,” Yamaguchi explained. He grinned and leaned in a bit, “And besides, he’d die for my grandma’s cooking.”

“I’d do that too,” Tsukishima mumbled. Visiting Yamaguchi’s grandparents in the countryside was something of a tradition by now. After all those years of friendships, it was only natural that they had become a part of each other’s family, and the invitation to come along hadn’t come as much of a surprise to Tsukishima.

“Let’s get out of here before they ask us to help,” Yamaguchi urged. He wrapped his hand around Tsukishima’s wrist and pulled him through the gate.

 

* * *

 

At first, they wandered around aimlessly – they greeted some neighbors who immediately recognized them as ‘little Tadashi’ and his ‘stern little friend’, and visited some of the places where they used to play as children. One of them was an old temple, a bit outside of the village. Tsukishima had no idea what kind of deity was worshiped there, but he still felt compelled enough to leave some coins and gratitude. If only because Yamaguchi did it as well.

After they had decided to sit on the stairs that led up to the temple, Yamaguchi leaned against him. “What now?”

Tsukishima shrugged and squinted his eyes into the distance. “No idea. I kind of expected this place to be less.. dead.”

“My grandma said most people moved away, into actual towns. Especially when their kids got older. Remember that girl and the little brother we played with so often? They don’t live here anymore either.”

“I don’t hold it against them.” Tsukishima sighed. “I’d hate a place like this. Our town is boring as hell already, in my opinion.”

Yamaguchi sat up straight and eyed his boyfriend from the side. “Do you plan to move away one day?”

For a moment, Tsukishima was silent. Then, he nodded. “Actually.. yeah.” He paused and looked down at his hands, fingertips brought together and forming a triangle. “But I don’t want to be apart from you either.”

Yamaguchi’s heart seemed to stop for a second. He let out a short, breathless laugh. “I’d come along with you,” he replied without thinking, “I have no idea what I want to do in the future, but I’m sure I’ll be able to do it anywhere – if not _better_ in a bigger town.”

“Like Tokyo?” Tsukishima asked.

“Do you want to go to Tokyo?” Yamaguchi replied with a question.

Tsukishima grimaced. “I’d be so close to my brother. And I don’t want my parents in my neck all the time either.”

“There’s so many big towns in Japan,” Yamaguchi mumbled. He leaned back against Tsukishima’s side. His boyfriend held out his hand and Yamaguchi placed his own on it, their fingers entwining. The gesture, so small but so familiar to him already, made him smile. “I’d go anywhere with you, Tsukki.”

“Even Sapporo?”

“Sapporo is pretty cold and the summers aren’t as humid as they are here, so I’m fine with that.”

Tsukishima laughed next to him. “I knew you’d say that.”

“Ah?” Yamaguchi frowned. “How come?”

“I’m your best friend, idiot. I know everything about you.” Tsukishima smiled at him, which made Yamaguchi blush for no apparent reason.

“Oh.. Tsukki..” He leaned in and pressed a kissed to his cheek. “I love you, Tsukki.”

“We’re in the presence of a god, you know,” his boyfriend warned. That didn’t stop him from latching on to his mouth and giving Yamaguchi a proper kiss, though. When he pulled back, his nose rubbed against Yamaguchi’s for a moment, making him giggle in the process. “Dating my best friend was the best idea ever,” he murmured.

Yamaguchi bit his lip. “Was it? Why?”

Tsukishima squinted his eyes at him before he replied, “I don’t know. I don’t think I’d be this casual with someone I had just met. To be honest, I never thought I’d fall in love with someone. Never saw the appeal in it either.”

“And then I came,” Yamaguchi sighed and rolled his eyes as though he was bothered by this. “I corrupted you, huh?”

“Totally,” Tsukishima agreed, and leaned in for another kiss.


	25. winter

It was the middle of the night when Tsukishima woke up. He frowned at the wall opposite to him, while his eyes adjusted to the darkness. The room seemed vaguely familiar to him, but he couldn’t quite remember why. After a few seconds of silence and listening to Yamaguchi’s breath, he felt a shiver running down his spine. The hair on his arms and legs seemed to stand up on one end as he tried to pull the blanket up to his nose.

“Right..” He muttered to himself as he remembered that he had agreed to visit Yamaguchi’s grandparents over the weekend. He had done this a lot when he had been a kid, but he didn’t remember it to be this _cold_ at this house.

Letting out an annoyed sigh, he rolled over, which only made him shiver even more. Yamaguchi was lying next to him, sleeping soundly, one arm stretched out across the edge of his futon.

It was almost as though he was inviting Tsukishima to come over.

He grinned over the gesture (even though he doubted that Yamaguchi had any control over whatever his arms did in his sleep) and inched closer to him.

Another shiver ran through his body when he threw back his blanket and lifted Yamaguchi’s. The boy grumbled in his sleep, but didn’t seem to wake up from it. Tsukishima slightly pulled on the blanket to make sure he didn’t end up with some small share that had him stick out his butt into the cold night air, before he slid under it.

As soon as his head was nestled against Yamaguchi’s chest, Yamaguchi stirred in his sleep. He made some grunting noise under his breath, before he opened his eyes, blinking in confusion. His arm wrapped around Tsukishima’s shoulder and pulled him a bit closer.

“Tsukki?” he asked sleepily. His nose brushed against the soft curls of his boyfriend’s hair.

“It’s cold. Feels like winter in here,” he replied. All of sudden, he felt embarrassed for snuggling up to him like this. He hadn’t even really thought about it.

“Hmm.. My grandparents say the house started getting really drafty.. That’s also what my dad is supposed to look into.”

Tsukishima nodded. “I hope he can fix it.”

Yamaguchi laughed and his chest vibrated with the small rumble. “Nah, probably not.”

“Have more confidence in him.”

“… nah.” Yamaguchi inhaled the scent of Tsukishima’s manly yet strawberry scented shampoo. “He’ll act like he found out about it, then call some experts to find out the real reason.”

“Good enough, in my opinion,” Tsukishima mumbled. He was getting sleepy again, with Yamaguchi warming him up, their legs and feet rubbing together, and Yamaguchi’s toes tickling him lightly.

“I thought you’d be way more critical about this, Tsukki,” Yamaguchi teased. He pressed a kiss to Tsukishima’s forehead, and Tsukishima could feel the way his lips curved into a smile. “I love you, Tsukki.”

Tsukishima let out a small sigh. His nose rubbed against the fabric of Yamaguchi’s shirt. He loved his smell, even though he couldn’t describe it. Yamaguchi just smelled like Yamaguchi. “Love you too,” he murmured, voice muffled by the shirt.

Yamaguchi let out another small laugh. “Go back to sleep.”

“Aren’t you going to sleep too?” Tsukishima asked drowsily.

“Hmm..” Yamaguchi hummed, “I fall asleep best when I know you’re sleeping soundly as well.”

“You’re such a sap,” Tsukishima sighed.

Yamaguchi grinned at the ceiling.

“You love it, Tsukki.”


	26. diamond

As soon as his plate was empty, Tsukishima set his fork aside and looked up. “Yamaguchi and I will be studying for an important exam after dinner. You better not disturb us.”

His words were met with a raised eyebrow by his mother, and a single nod by his father. “Sure. Working hard is important.”

“Do you want me to bring any snacks?” his mom asked with a worried expression. Tsukishima opened his mouth to reply, but Yamaguchi was faster.

“Actually, we read about this at school – that snacking only disturbs your concentration.”

Tsukishima’s mom looked a bit displeased, but didn’t say anything.

“We’re going to get our dessert afterwards,” Tsukishima said quickly. He gave Yamaguchi a small glance, before they both stood up and headed upstairs.

 

* * *

 

Stopping in front of Tsukishima’s door, Yamaguchi turned around to look at his boyfriend. “What test?” he asked, a expectant grin on his face.

Tsukishima huffed and rolled his eyes. “It’s the only way we get privacy, isn’t it.”

“Hmm.. You better be grateful that I played along.”

“Eternally.” Tsukishima reached for the doorhandle. “Hey, close your eyes.”

Yamaguchi blinked at him, but Tsukishima already covered his eyes with one hand, until he closed them obediently. “You better not do anything weird, Tsukki,” he warned. He could hear his boyfriend chuckle, but he didn’t say anything.

Tsukishima opened the door and turned on the lights. Then, his hand grabbed for Yamaguchi’s arm and pulled him inside. “Careful, those are my shoes there.. Sit down.” He helped Yamaguchi turn around and flop down on his bed. Yamaguchi could hear Tsukishima move away, followed by the sound of the door being locked and the click of a light switch. Actually, two clicks. Yamaguchi frowned lightly, but continued to keep his eyes shut.

“Tsukki?” he asked, but Tsukishima was right next to him only a second later.

“Alright, open your eyes.”

Yamaguchi did as told – if only because he was dying to find out what the hell his boyfriend was planning – and blinked into the darkness.

There were spots of light dancing across the walls, the ceiling – everywhere. They changed shape and color, from actual stars into simple spots and back again.

He drew in a deep breath.

“Oh my God.. Tsukki,” he mumbled, his voice shaking. He could feel Tsukishima touch his hand. His thumb rubbed over his skin, while Yamaguchi stared at the lights that illuminated the room.

“I found this when helping my brother clear out his room.. He wanted to throw it away but I thought you’d be the kind of guy who loves LED night skies like this,” Tsukishima explained. He pointed at the small object in the middle of the floor that was responsible for displaying entire nebulae onto the walls of Tsukishima’s small room.

“I love it,” Yamaguchi whispered, almost barely audible. “This is so cheesy and cute and.. I love it.”

Tsukishima chuckled and leaned in, “Thought so,” he muttered, before kissing Yamaguchi’s cheek. His hand reached up and ran through Yamaguchi’s hair, the pads of his fingers massaging his skull affectionately. With a smile, he brought his hand to his boyfriend’s chin and tilted it up lightly. “The light reflects in your eyes.. Makes it look like you’ve got diamonds in your eyes.”

“Tsukki, that’s so cheesy..” Yamaguchi sniffled and blinked repeatedly to stop himself from crying. Still, a single tear managed to roll down the side of his face. Tsukishima leaned in and kissed it away without hesitation.

“I love you, Tadashi,” he murmured against the soft skin of his cheek. When he pulled away, Yamaguchi’s eyes were more watery than before, and reflected even more of the LED stars and spots around them.

“Kei,” he started, and stopped himself by swallowing heavily. He leaned in and cupped Tsukishima’s face in his hands to pull him closer and press a kiss to his lips. “I love you too. I’ve always loved you. When I said I’d never fall in love with you, I was lying, because I was already in love with you,” he babbled mindlessly.

Tsukishima laughed nervously as he tried his best to wipe Yamaguchi’s tears away. “That was.. that was months ago. It doesn’t matter.”

“I just,” Yamaguchi’s breath hiccuped, “I just wanted you to know that.”

“Thank you.” Tsukishima smiled at him. He felt something wet run down his cheek, and frowned. Yamaguchi let out a startled laugh.

“You’re crying, Kei.”

He frowned. “I’m not crying. You’re crying.” Still, Tsukishima couldn’t hide the sob that formed in his throat. Yamaguchi took off his glasses and pulled him close, until his face was buried in his chest.

“This was supposed to be romantic and not a sobfest,” Tsukishima complained into the fabric of Yamaguchi’s shirt. His chest vibrated with the small laughter that bubbled up in him.

“It’s alright.. We can cry together and laugh together, Kei,” Yamaguchi explained with a trembling voice.

Tsukishima closed his eyes and nodded, as far as he could move his head with Yamaguchi hugging him so tightly. “Thank you, Tadashi.”

Yamaguchi smiled and bit his lip, before he replied, “Always.”


	27. letters

Tsukishima woke up from the noise his phone made when it dropped off the edge of his bed and hit the floor. He sat up, blinking, and brought his hand to his eyes. He couldn’t remember when he had dozed off – his history text book was still lying next to him on the bed, though. Tsukishima remembered that he had only planned to rest his eyes for a bit, which had been a good idea, until he had dozed off. He had woken up once, only to take off his glasses, and go back to sleep.

With a sigh, he reached down to the floor to pick up his phone. The clock showed 7:43 pm, as well as a new message from Yamaguchi.

> **TO:** Tsukki
> 
> **SUBJECT:** hey
> 
> _Have I ever told you that you have a nice ass?_

Tsukishima stared at the words on his screen. His hand that was rubbing his eye moved lower to pinch his cheek.

Ok, that hurt, so he definitely wasn’t dreaming.

> **TO:** Yamaguchi
> 
> **SUBJECT:** Re: hey
> 
> _what_

He didn’t have to wait for more than three minutes until his phone vibrated in his hand.

> **TO:** Tsukki
> 
> **SUBJECT:** Re: hey
> 
> _I had a dentist appointment today and I ended up reading women’s magazines in the waiting room. One advice was to leave love letters around the apartment for your lover to find, but since I can’t do that, I thought I should send you a compliment instead!_

Tsukishima frowned at the display before letting out a low chuckle. That was so much like Yamaguchi that it didn’t even surprise him all that much.

> **TO:** Yamaguchi
> 
> **SUBJECT:** Re: hey
> 
> _i’m pretty sure you’re only supposed to do that when your relationship is in a slump though.. but thanks for the compliment, i guess??_

> **TO:** Tsukki
> 
> **SUBJECT:** Re: hey
> 
> _At least return the favor!!_

He fell back onto the mattress and raised the phone over his head, careful not to drop it right on his face. Yamaguchi had a point, but he couldn’t really come up with a compliment right now. Of course there were many, many things he loved about his boyfriend, but he was too embarrassed to write out any of those things.

> **TO:** Yamaguchi
> 
> **SUBJECT:** Re: hey
> 
> _you have cute freckles_

Right after the message had sent, Tsukishima hurried to write another one.

> **TO:** Yamaguchi
> 
> **SUBJECT:** Re: hey
> 
> _on your dick and on your ass too_

Well, that wasn’t really romantic, but he was trying, and that counted for something, didn’t it? Right when he wanted to set his phone aside, it vibrated again.

> **TO:** Tsukki
> 
> **SUBJECT:** Re: hey
> 
> _Wow._

He stifled a giggle and shook his head. Tsukishima knew he was being kind of a dick now, but Yamaguchi probably wasn’t really mad at him.

> **TO:** Yamaguchi
> 
> **SUBJECT:** Re: hey
> 
> _i’m joking. you know i love everything about you, right?_

This time it took a bit longer for Yamaguchi to reply. Tsukishima figured that he was probably pouting and trying to make him wait a little, so he grabbed his history text book and got out of bed already. There was no point in studying about people who were long dead by now, when he was this tired.

Only when he returned from the kitchen and there was still no reply from Yamaguchi, he began to worry. He shoved the rest of his sandwich into his mouth and wiped his fingers on his pants before composing a new message.

> **TO:** Yamaguchi
> 
> **SUBJECT:** Re: hey
> 
> _alright uhm.. the truth is, i want to kiss every single freckle on your body. the ones on your dick and ass included. was that romantic enough?_

> **TO:** Tsukki
> 
> **SUBJECT:** Re: hey
> 
> _I had to change the light bulb in the kitchen and now I come back to this.. I should leave you waiting more often, huh?_

Tsukishima blushed deeply and covered his face with one hand. When he had the courage to look at his phone again, Yamaguchi had sent another message.

> **TO:** Tsukki
> 
> **SUBJECT:** Re: hey
> 
> _But you’re always welcome to kiss my dick and my ass! How about tomorrow?_

He made a strangled noise under his breath and almost dropped his phone. His hands had gotten sweaty all of sudden – not because he wasn’t on board with the idea though.

> **TO:** Yamaguchi
> 
> **SUBJECT:** Re: hey
> 
> _i’ll be there at 10 am_


	28. promise

As soon as he opened the door to the roof, a gust of wind ran its cold fingers through his hair and down his spine, and made him shiver. Tsukishima wrapped his arms around his torso and stepped outside. It was hard to not just turn around and go back to the classroom, which, unlike the roof, was warm and cozy.

“Yamaguchi?” He let his gaze wander. The benches were unoccupied, which didn’t come as a surprise. Nobody wanted to have lunch outside in this terrible weather. The sky above his head was gray and he could have sworn he could hear thunder rumble in the distance.

“Tsukki! You came,” he heard Yamaguchi’s voice exclaim. He came up from the other side of the roof and smiled at Tsukishima. Apparently he was completely oblivious to the cold.

“You texted me to come up, so I did that.. Everything alright?” Tsukishima closed the door behind him and inched closer to his boyfriend. “You’re not getting in trouble with that girl gang again, are you?” He glanced over to the other half of the roof which he hadn’t looked at before.

“Didn’t they get disbanded after they got into a food fight with a third year girl?”

Tsukishima stared at him and blinked slowly. “I didn’t know that.. Do I want to find out where you got that information from?”

“Word travels fast inside bathrooms, Tsukki.”

Tsukishima made a disgusted noise. He hated public toilets and only used them when he really had to. It was ironic, though, since a school bathroom had been the location where he had confessed his feelings to Yamaguchi. Looking at the boy in front of him, he sighed.

“Why did you call me out here, again? It’s so cold today.”

“We can go in a minute. Just.. Give me your hand.”

“If you want me to warm your hand, we should just go back inside,” Tsukishima whined. Yamaguchi squinted his eyes at him, and he quickly held out his hand obediently.

“Now close your eyes,” Yamaguchi ordered. His boyfriend sighed once more, but did as he was told. There was the rustling of clothes, followed by paper getting scrunched up. It made a low noise, when Yamaguchi threw that something into the trashcan. “Alright, wait a second..” Something cold was put around Tsukishima’s wrist. It was thin and sturdy, but seemed flexible at the same time, when Yamaguchi adjusted it.

“Open your eyes.” Yamaguchi’s voice had gotten lower. Tsukishima shivered, which definitely wasn’t caused by the wind.

He blinked at his wrist. “Oh,” was the only sound he made, his voice so small that it was barely audible. He stared at the silver bracelet that adorned his wrist now. Its surface was smooth, with no carving or anything like that. Just a simple silver bracelet. “That’s not.. real silver, or is it..” He didn’t dare look at Yamaguchi.

“Oh, no, of course not. It’s soft aluminum. Really flexible, and less bad for your skin than sterling silver!” Yamaguchi explained cheerfully. He raised his arm and pulled back his sleeve, revealing the same accessory that Tsukishima was wearing. “I’ve got one too!” He paused for a moment, before he leaned in. It took Tsukishima a second to react to it and look up from his wrist.

“What?”

“Do you like it?”

Tsukishima felt his blood rush to his head. In a matter of seconds, his face was bright red.

“Yes, it’s.. it’s cute..” he mumbled nervously. He could hear Yamaguchi giggle. His boyfriend reached for his bracelet and took it off, before holding it up in front of him. There was a date carved on the inside, from a few months ago. Tsukishima frowned.

“That’s the day you confessed to me,” Yamaguchi explained.

“You remember the date?”

“Of course. I’ve marked it in every calendar I own.” Yamaguchi grinned at him. “I thought about something matching for us for a while until I stumbled over these.. I think nobody will be suspicious of bracelets like this. And the date is so ambiguous, it could be anything.”

Tsukishima didn’t know whether he wanted to laugh or cry at how cute Yamaguchi was. He should be embarrassed, he figured, but right now he only felt this tingling warmth in his chest. Just looking at Yamaguchi’s face in front of him while he talked made him feel lightheaded.

“Thank you,” he muttered eventually. He watched as Yamaguchi put the bracelet back on his wrist. Then, he took a step forward and wrapped his arms around Tsukishima’s neck. Tsukishima wanted to protest, seeing that they were at school, and on the roof no less, but Yamaguchi was already kissing his cheek.

“It’s a promise, Tsukki,” Yamaguchi said.

“For what?” Tsukishima felt strangely stupid for asking this. He put his arms around Yamaguchi’s waist and pulled him closer.

Yamaguchi frowned. “No idea, actually. To always be honest with each other?”

“We already are honest with each other,” Tsukishima said. He leaned in and put his head on Yamaguchi’s shoulder. “Make it something like.. A promise that you’ll buy me a disgustingly expensive engagement ring in a few years.”

“Woah there, I don’t think I’m ready for the commitment yet,” Yamaguchi joked.

Tsukishima huffed and clicked his tongue, “Here I thought you’d be a different kind of man.”

They both giggled. Tsukishima straightened up to lean his forehead against Yamaguchi’s. “We’ll come up with a promise.”

Yamaguchi smiled at him.

“I’m sure we will.”


	29. simple

“Ah, come on!” Tsukishima let out an annoyed sigh and dropped the controller onto the floor. Next to him, Yamaguchi threw his head back and laughed.

“What the hell was _that_ , Tsukki? You ran right into him!” he mocked, while holding his stomach. He could feel Tsukishima glaring at him, but it didn’t dampen his gloating.

“I had a plan, alright? He just didn’t want to get along with it!”

Yamaguchi wiped a tear from the corner of his eye, and gasped for breath. “Yeah, he’s the enemy, chances are that he won’t work together with you. But- _oh man_ ,” he started laughing again, and Tsukishima could only shake his head and lean back against the bed behind him.

They were in Yamaguchi’s room, playing videogames and avoiding to study – a typical Sunday afternoon. Lately, Tsukishima had came over way more often then in the past. Four months ago, regular sleepovers and the likes hadn’t been such a normal occurrence as they were now. Sometimes he wondered whether any of their parents would catch on to their relationship.

Tsukishima had no idea how they would react to it – his brother would be cool with it, because, if Aki had any remarkable traits, it was the fact that he was ‘totally cool’ with anything. His parents, however.. He had no idea. The same went for Yamaguchi’s family. And frankly, Tsukishima didn’t feel the need to find out anytime soon.

Maybe they’d tell them in a few years, or they’d just get used to the fact that they were always together, and never started to date anyone. To the point where coming out to them would result in shrugging and a bored ‘yeah, we noticed’, and not into a fullblown fight that would create a huge rift between their parents and them.

For a split second he felt bad about these thoughts. It wasn’t that he had no faith in his parents.. But he felt like assuming the worst would prepare him way better than being optimistic and hoping for the best outcome possible.

Tsukishima could feel a tug on his sleeve. When he looked up, Yamaguchi was staring at him. Without him noticing, his boyfriend had climbed on his lap and sat down on his thighs.

“What is it?” he asked. Yamaguchi pouted.

“You suddenly looked really scary so I was worried something might be wrong. Like, hurt manpride or something, because you messed up in the game.”

“I.. I was just thinking,” Tsukishima sighed. He glanced at the tv behind Yamaguchi, but still felt his gaze on him.

“You want to talk about it?” Yamaguchi leaned to the side, so he was right in his boyfriend’s field of vision.

Tsukishima rolled his eyes with a smile on his face, and shook his head. “It’s nothing. Just some.. worrying about the future, I guess.” When Yamaguchi didn’t say anything, he slowly added, “About our parents.”

“Ah,” was the only reply. For a moment, both stayed silent, with the only sound in the room being the cheerful background music in the game’s main menu.

“Do you want to tell them?” Yamaguchi asked eventually.

Tsukishima shook his head immediately. “I don’t think they’d understand.”

“You don’t know that yet.”

“I don’t want to risk anything.” His expression grew darker – more serious. “It’s none of their business anyways.”

Yamaguchi laughed on his lap. “I understand.”

“I’m serious,” Tsukishima said quickly, “Let’s just.. study hard. Practice hard. Finish high school and maybe go to nationals on the side. And then find some university to attend, far away from here, and not worry about our families finding out about stuff beyond their control anyways.”

Yamaguchi leaned in. His finger traced the rim of Tsukishima’s glasses. “Sounds like a good plan to me,” he admitted. His lips curved into a smile. “Simple, but good.”

“Simple plans are the best plans,” Tsukishima replied. He wrapped his arms around Yamaguchi’s waist.

“We just have to avoid running into the enemy,” Yamaguchi teased.

Tsukishima huffed. “I’m telling you, it would have worked if he hadn’t..”

“Yeah, yeah. I believe you, Tsukki.”

“No you don’t, you’re lying. I can see that you’re lying.” Tsukishima leaned over to grab the controller. “Let me try again, I swear, it will work this time.”

Yamaguchi hummed and got up from his lap. He sat down on the floor next to Tsukishima and leaned against him as he watched his boyfriend resume the game.

Just a simple Sunday afternoon with videogames and your secret boyfriend …


	30. future

“I can’t believe we traveled for almost 9 hours for this,” Tsukishima grumbled under his breath. He huffed into the dark fabric of his scarf, as he wandered around the crowd of students that had gathered in front of the boards.

“I told you that you could have stayed at home,” Yamaguchi said next to him. He squinted his eyes at the rows upon rows of numbers. Every once in a while, someone let out an excited yelp, while others walked away with their heads hung low.

“Who stays at home and misses his university admission.. It only happens once in a lifetime.”

“We already went to Tokyo and Kyoto.. I think there’s nothing exciting about this anymore. And you’re sick, too, you shouldn’t be traveling!”

Tsukishima ignored Yamaguchi’s words and continued to study the student numbers in front of them. He had gotten sick a few days ago – it was only a cold and he was already feeling better (thanks to his boyfriend’s loving care, obviously), but traveling all the way from Miyagi prefecture to Sapporo had been exhausting nevertheless. He had spent most of the train ride sleeping, but that didn’t mean that he felt well rested in any way.

“Oh, Tsukki, I found you!” Yamaguchi tugged at his sleeve and pointed at one of the rows. Tsukishima blinked a few times, until he spotted his number. He nodded and glanced at the sheet of paper in Yamaguchi’s hand.

“What was your number again?”

“Come on, at least be excited!” Yamaguchi pouted.

Tsukishima rolled his eyes. “We already went through this in Tokyo and Kyoto, remember?”

“Yeah, but you weren’t excited back then either!”

“Because I never wanted to go there in the first place.” Which was true. They had only applied to other universities besides Hokudai to make sure they had a backup plan. He left Yamaguchi and his pouty mouth behind, as he resumed walking again.

Maybe it was the cold and the feeling of having his head stuffed with cotton balls, but this entire moment didn’t seem very real to him. It was as though he was walking on clouds, with his legs all wobbly and his knees feeling like jelly.

Behind him, Yamaguchi let out a squeaking noise. He turned around to look at him. “Tadashi?”

“ _There._ ”

Tsukishima followed the direction Yamaguchi was pointing a shaking finger at with his eyes, past the boards that displayed the numbers of those who had passed the entrance exams, to a smaller one. “’The ten best examinees of the year’- _Oh my god_.”

There, in bolded letters, was his name – Yamaguchi Tadashi – followed by his student number. Yamaguchi made a strangled noise and covered his face with his hands. “It’s a 10, right? It’s a 10.”

“Uh,” Tsukishima gulped and blinked a few times, “No.. No, it’s a 1. You’re the best.” He let out a breathless laugh, only now realizing the weight of his own words. His hand reached for Yamaguchi’s shoulder and squeezed it tightly. “You’re the best examinee of this year’s entrance exam, Tadashi.”

“Holy shit. Holy.. shit.” Yamaguchi sounded like he was either going to throw up, or pass out. He lowered his hands and glanced at the board again, but closed his eyes immediately. “This must be a dream. Pinch me, Tsukki.”

For a moment, Tsukishima considered doing this. His fingers brushed against Yamaguchi’s cheek. He glanced at the crowd of students in front of them for a second, before he leaned in and pressed his lips to Yamaguchi’s.

Yamaguchi yelped and seemed like he was going to push Tsukishima away any second. His hands gripped his boyfriend’s upper arms tightly. When they separated, his cheeks were flushed.

“This is real.”

“Very,” Tsukishima agreed. Yamaguchi turned his head to the ranking once more. His hand reached into his pocket and pulled out his phone.

“I’m just gonna take a picture and send it to my mom. Nothing else.”

“That’s so evil,” Tsukishima mumbled. He silently watched as Yamaguchi took the picture. In the process, his sleeve slipped down a little and revealed the silver bracelet he wore around his wrist – the same as Tsukishima’s. “We really did it, huh.”

Yamaguchi looked up from his phone. “What do you mean?”

“Our plans.” He paused and let out a deep sigh. “I remember we had all these plans and.. I think they’re really coming to completion now.”

“Oh.. right..” Yamaguchi nodded, a baffled expression on his face. “We never planned past university admission, did we?”

“You said you wanted small steps.” Tsukishima sounded like he was teasing him, but he wasn’t – not really.

“Guess we can make plans for the next three years then.” Yamaguchi slipped his phone back into his pocket. He turned around, and Tsukishima did the same, even though he wanted to ask whether Yamaguchi really was sure that he wanted to leave already. After all, finding out that you were the best examinee of the year wasn’t something easy to swallow.

“Actually, scratch that,” Yamaguchi said. He stopped after a few steps and glanced up to the sky above them. Clear blue dotted with white, fluffy looking clouds. “I think I’m ok with the way things are right now.”

“You are?” Tsukishima frowned at him.

“Going to the same university as you is perfectly fine.” Yamaguchi’s hand squeezed his own. “Let’s just take things as they come. No plans needed.” He chuckled and tilted his head to the side as he glanced at Tsukishima. “Well, aside from that disgustingly expensive engagement ring, maybe.”

“You still remember that?” Tsukishima felt his cheeks beginning to redden. “That was.. what, three years ago?”

“So?” Yamaguchi shrugged. He leaned in and kissed Tsukishima’s cheek. “I will always remember things like that.”

“It makes me wonder how you do that, seeing that you ranked #1 and that already takes a lot of brain capability,” Tsukishima mused.

Yamaguchi laughed and shook his head. “That’s why I love you, Tsukki.”

He knew he should have been offended, but Tsukishima couldn’t help but smile as well. “I love you too.”

“Forever?” Yamaguchi grinned at him, which made Tsukishima roll his eyes, and nod.

“Always, Tadashi.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Iiiii can't believe that it's over.. Thanks to everyone who left comments and kudos, and bookmarked this fic! I'm weirdly proud of myself, haha.. I will miss these idiots. :'(


End file.
